“Burn down your cities and leave our farms, and your cities will spring up again as if by magic; but destroy our farms and the grass will grow in the streets of every city in the country.” William Jennings Bryan

Tuesday, April 7, 2020

April 7, 2020



 The time has come for me to transition from the hoop house to the garden. I am getting ready to turn the garden soil over and till in last year’s compost to prepare for outside planting.  Meanwhile, in my home, in a southern facing window, I am starting tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, etc. from seed. In mid-May, after the danger of frost passes, I will “re-home” these to the garden, and then direct seed vegetables including beans, corn, cucumbers, squash, pumpkins and more. 

Thinking back, it was a good winter season in regards to the hoop house. I planted garlic in early December ’19 (see blog post of December 29, 2019), and at this time, it is 6 to 8 weeks from harvest. I like to grow it in the hoop house exclusively now because I don’t need to worry about drainage or weeds. Now that I grow mostly for just Kath and I, I only raise 15 plants - that is still a lot of garlic and we always have enough to share.

Through the winter I grew successions of radishes and arugula, and am now doing the fourth and last succession. I had planted lettuce and chard but the mice ate the tender seedlings as they came up. I tried to discourage this by placing ground garlic in these beds, and when that did not work, I tried ground pepper. That did not work either. Since the mice did not like eating the spicier seedlings of radish and arugula, I planted a hot mesclun mix that included leaf lettuce. The mustards, arugula, and mizuna acted as deterrents, protecting the lettuce seedlings. When these lettuces grew enough that the mice ignored them, I replanted them in other beds, and harvested the spicy stuff for salads. The lettuces remain untouched by mice and are maturing nicely. I am happy that the plan worked, and will try the same next year.

Another thing I am experimenting with is to grow Zucchini in the hoop house. I planted four seeds back in early March and they are up and growing. I am hoping that these will mature and provide zucchini much sooner than those I will be planting from seed in the garden come mid- May.  If it goes well, I will try this again next year and include other vegetables, such as cucumbers and acorn squash. 

I am looking forward to having a summer garden. Sadly enough, I haven’t had a garden of any sort since we laid down the CSA and let the field go fallow. It will be good to have a garden again- I am really looking forward it.

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