Spring seems to take forever in the Pacific Northwest. Just when I think it is time to plant or give the overwintered this or that some much needed outdoor exposure, the temps drop. I try to keep an eye on the weather but we often do not follow the foretasted temps very closely. The lemon grass went out yesterday as the weather app said the low would be about 5-8 degrees warmer than it actually was. I’m really hoping I didn’t lose it to the cold.
This weekend saw the first ‘real’ day of gardening for the year. Spring just around the corner and while I did plant some garlic in Jan (very late), that didn’t involve more than poking my finger in the ground to make a hole and popping the fattest cloves in before covering with soil and so can’t REALLY be counted as a Spring planting.. Yesterday saw the addition of some peet moss to the fairly sandy soil of my newish garden spot. It does feel good to get the fork into the soil and turn it over to see some earthworms. There has to be some organic matter in there to support them right?
After the turning over and addition of some organic fertilizer, I seeded a couple of small beds. Spring plantings are my favorite. After a long dark winter nothing feeds the soul like the first planting of Spring. Yesterday saw two favorites go into the ground. Spinach (Giant Winter and Olympia Hybrid) and Lettuce (Gourmet Blend and Oak Leaf Blend). The seed was a couple of years old in both instances so I seeded thickly. If I can get 20% germination out of them I’ll have more than we need for the allotted space.  If not, there will be time to try again with the lettuce. The spinach maybe not though. The days get long quickly this time of year and once Spinach starts seeing days very long it will bolt regardless of the temps.
My garden is exactly 10’x20′ in size, 2 plots in the local community garden.  Each bed in  the garden is about 10’x50′-60′ (Can’t remember which it is now but you get the idea.) and contains 5 or 6 10′ long plots.  The long sides of most of the beds are walled in with 2″x12″ boards and the ends are open.  My 10×20 is a fraction of the approx 40’x60′ garden I left in Southern Kentucky but plenty for my wants, needs and amount of free time.  The small size means every square inch counts and that I have to be selective about who gets a spot to put down roots.  Each individual gardener has the ability to amend our spots to our hearts content and as such, some plots end up being taller than the plot next door. This means that 6-8″ on the end of the taller plot is pretty much unusable as water just runs off to the lower beds.  This happens again at the end of the bed where my plot is. This year some of the gardeners have added divider boards and end boards to their plots.  By capping it off on either end that last 6-8″ is usable.  Anita was nice enough to pick up a couple of boards for me as our car is too small to carry much of anything over 6′ long.  It was raining when I arrived at the garden this morning.  Not a hard rain but the gentle rain so common in our area.  Historically I would not garden in the rain but I only get two days off every week and I have to take the time I get.  It didn’t take long to trench out the area for the boards using the narrow hoe.  After all was said and done I figure I’ve gained about 10 square feet at 6″ x 10′ x 2 sides.  I pulled some of the volunteer nasturtiums that were growing in the walkway and tucked them in along the inside of the middle board.  They will look nice spilling over the board later this summer.
The potatoes I planted 41 days ago in 8″ deep trenches are looking AWESOME! The trenches have been filled as the plants grew and they are looking very lush. That being said, if I had it to do over I would have planted them in large containers like the guy over at the Allotment Diary in the UK. Â I stumbled upon his video about growing potatoes in containers and will definitely go that route next year if I grow them again. The growing part isn’t what makes containers great, it is the harvesting part. From what I’ve read and been told, harvesting potatoes without cutting into some of them and/or leaving some behind to sprout next year is problematic. Â Dan, Mr Allotment Gardener, plants potatoes deep in containers, the way I did in the trenches, filling with compost as they grow. The containers are partially buried in the garden early on so the roots can grow though into the soil below for nutrients and moisture leaving the potatoes to develop in the containers. Â Harvesting consists of dumping the entire container onto a tarp and fishing out the little bundles of starchy goodness. Â His most recent video shows him harvesting new potatoes from plants in small pots he started 2 months ago. A much easier task when they are grown in containers. If you have any interest in potato growing check him out. I think the environment in his part of the UK is similar to ours here in the PNW.
In other happenings, The lettuce is LOVING the wet and cool weather we have been having. Today after getting the boards in, I harvested red, green and oak leaf lettuce as well as a mess of some mixed kale like greens. The Palco spinach is ready to go but my bag was full. Perhaps tomorrow. Again this year I was reminded that there is really not much to gain by using lettuce transplants. The beds I direct seeded have caught up to the bed with the transplants. I should save my money but I get so impatient in the early spring and want to se SOMETHING green. I had planned to seed some zucchini this weekend but not sure it will like the 50+ degree days we’ve been having. I suppose I could start it under lights inside. There isn’t much of a rush though as I’m not really sure where I’ll stick it yet. I had originally thought it would go where the kale was but I put the chard there. Decisions…decisions.
