The end of May and the rest of the garden is going in
With the Memorial day weekend comes the end of the frost season in zone 7 B. That means that we can finally finish our planting. The zucchini, pumpkins, cucumbers, tomatoes and corn can finally go in the ground.
This year we are trying a few new varieties of tomatoes, melons and corn. We usually grow a mix of early girl, paste and mortgage lifter tomatoes. We felt that the early girls weren’t sustainable since they are a hybrid. In there place we’re trying an open pollinated heirloom tomato with similar traits called “Early Mountain Princes”. We are really hoping that they live up to their reputation as hearty and abundant producers. We canned an abundance of tomatoes last Fall so if these flop, we’ll still be okay until next year. We are also trying an heirloom paste tomato called “Amish Paste”. If you have any experience with these, please leave a comment! We can use all the input we can get.
The area that we are using for our corn patch was first “put under plow” last year. It’s about 100 feet by 25 feet. The soil was so poor that even zucchini wouldn’t produce. Last Fall we plowed in copious amounts of compost and planted red clover and vetch as a cover crop. When I turned in the cover crops we added last years chicken manure and this years rabbit manure. We are also using that area for bush beans and pumpkins.
So far our strawberries and rhubarb are producing well. Our artichokes, asparagus and horseradish are coming along nicely also. All in all it’s looking like a good year for our gardens. Its a lot of work and things don’t always go as planned, but in the end the reward is certainly worth the effort
Steve
One of the great things about gardening is the anticipation of a successful harvest.
Yes sir, I have to agree with you there. Even though harvest time can be one of the busiest times of our year. Anticipating the harvest is part of the jot of gardening.