Left: Before!  Right: After dividing the plot up and planting a few things.

Left: The first plant, red onion.  Right: Artichokes

This was the first week I was allowed down at my plot at the Intervale.  On Thursday we laid down some boards to divide the plot into nine 3’ x 9’ beds.  Today we set up three of the beds.  

Bed One: Onions, Carrots, Beats with Chives and Chamomile

Bed Two (is really two beds): Tomato, Eggplant, Pepper, and Artichoke with Basil and Cosmos.

Bed Three: Broccoli, Spinach, and Brussels Sprouts with Marigolds and Parsley

Bed Four (also is two beds): Three sisters - Corn, Pumpkin, and Beans

Bed Five: Squash (Spaghetti, Butternut, Summer, and Zuchini) with Cucumbers and Nasturtiums.

Bed Six (two beds) : Snap Peas and Edamame with Mixed flowers

We were able to get the onions in with some carrot seeds for bed one.  I wanted to plant the beats but didn’t realize you needed to soak the seeds overnight - hopefully we’ll do that on Wednesday.  We planted five of the artichokes in bed two that I’ve been growing since early March.  We put down seeds for five Broccoli plants and spinach in between them.  I also planted some Mesclun in the squash bed since we can’t plant them for a while.

I was given four raspberry and/or blackberry plants last week and wanted to get them into the ground this weekend.  The area I cleared out was next to my apartment; it’s pretty small but gets direct sunlight after noon so I figured I can grow a few things there.  The leaves were piled almost a foot high so I figured once I removed those there wouldn’t be much else to do.  I was wrong.  On Saturday I took six bags of leaves and two bags of sticks to the yard and waste depot and it still looked like a mess.  A big section of what I was cleaning up looked like it was where someone just dumped any weeds, branches, and lawn waste they had.  Luckily my mom came in on Sunday to help out.  Once we finally got the dry leaves sticks out of there she churned it up a bit and it turned out to be really nice, loose soil.  I found a couple friends in the garden too!

Left: Fuzzy caterpillar!  Right: Big worm, about 1 foot when stretched out.

We worked most of the afternoon on Sunday (minus a quick lunch of Kahlua battered french toast and pomegranate iced tea from Sneakers) and filled up four more bags.  I had a hard time removing the baby trees that had started growing along the fence.  Also, there was a grapevine that had sent shoots out all over the ground.  Most of the space seems to be over run with roots.  We did our best along the fence and planted the four raspberry/backberry plants.  There also was already a raspberry plant growing further down the garden.  It had formed an arch and rerooted itself so I cut the arch in half and moved one of the plants down with the other four.  We found a bunch of rocks while digging and used them to create a boarder around the raspberries so I wouldn’t walk on them.  Below are the before and after shots.

Left: Before clearing up.  Right: After two days of hard work.

Tomorrow I plan on transplanting the Cyrsanthemums and Violas and moving them outside.  When we walked to sneakers we saw other Violas surviving outdoors so I think they should be OK in the cold frame.  On another note the first Wood Hyacinth has bloomed!

My onions were pretty droopy so I cut about 2” off the top. Now they stand up straight!

Today my brother helped me build a cold frame.  I cleaned and painted the window last weekend and got all the supplies on Friday.  It wasn’t very nice out when we started but after we took a break for Easter lunch it cleared up and was sunny.  I’m glad I got this done because when I came home I found out that something tried to eat one of my artichokes!  It looks like it took a bite and didn’t like the taste so I guess I’m glad it only ruined one of them.

I got some new gardening tools in my easter basket along with some Nasturtium Alaska (Salmon Orange) and some red Sunflowers (Velvet Queen).  On of my mom’s friends was over this weekend and gave me shoots of either blackberry, raspberry, or both.  This week I am working on cleaning up the side of the house so I can plant these along the chain link fence.  I also bought some climbing flowers to go along the edge of the fence when my mom and I were at Gardner’s Supply for a couple hours… I got a Black Eyed Susan Vine which is really Thumbergia, star shaped Cypress Vine, some really beautiful Morning Glories, and a moonflower which blooms in the evening.  I also picked up some marigolds to plant around my vegetables and an interesting plant called a Pumpkin on a stick, which is actually an eggplant variety.

I am definitely running out of space under my grow lights.  To make space this week I’ve moved all the artichokes outside - even the three that didn’t have a second set of leaves.  They weren’t growing any faster by the kitchen window and they are getting more light out there.  I have most of them under the cloches I made from juice bottles; though a couple of the bigger ones fending for themselves.  Soon they will all be together as I was able to by the lumber I needed for the cold frame.  My brother and I will put it together it tomorrow - a nice Easter project!  I have five of the eggplants by another window and have moved the Rosemary to the kitchen window where Herbs seem to do well.  

Today I planted Roma Tomatoes.  Right now I only have plans to grow one variety of Tomatoes.  The reason is that I’m not really a fan of Vermont Tomatoes.  When you are used to eating huge, deep red, juicy tomatoes from New Jersey it is difficult to enjoy a New England Tomato.  A testimony to this is my mother, who grew up in Massachusetts and hated tomatoes until she moved to New Jersey.  Perhaps it will taste better when I grow it myself - but I get a pretty steady supply from my parents down in New Jersey during the summer.

Along with the tomatoes I planted a small amount of Butterhead Lettuce.  I plan on planting these every 3 weeks to have a steady supply.  I also planted Chamomile… or at least I think I did.  Those seeds are so small I’m not sure if they went in the ground or on my kitchen floor.  I guess I will find out in a week or so.

Left: Rosemary finally looking like a plant.  Right: Chamomile Seeds

I was able to use some homemade cloches from cranberry juice bottles by cutting the bottoms off.  The solid temp of the plant outside was 42˚F and the soil temp of the plant inside the cloche was 48˚F.

Left: Artichokes.  Right: Thorny Eggplant Leaf

I used fertilizer today on all my seedings; it’s a 6-12-6 solution which should be really good for the artichokes and eggplants.

It’s been in the high 40’s but dropping below 32˚F at night.  I would like to have my artichokes live outside at this point because I don’t have room under my grow lights for them and they would get better light outside than in my kitchen window.  Also, I think I need to trick them into thinking they’ve gone through winter once already by having them in <50˚F weather (but not freezing).  I’m not sure if they are big enough to handle to the cold yet.  I brought them outside for about 3 hours yesterday, and will try around 6 hours today.  The 9 I have outside all have true leaves.  I have 3 more inside that don’t have any true leaves yet.  I think that’s pretty good as I used the entire seed packet which had around 18 seeds.  As of today I had 13 geminate total (1 died of unknown causes).  I had planted these directly into 4” round pots with 3 seeds in each pot.  I didn’t want to kill off the plants so I’ve been transplanting any new ones that I see pop up.  This week is supposed to be between 40˚F and 50˚F but still below freezing at night.  I will have to bring them inside at night.  I have started building a cold frame this weekend so hopefully I’ll have that done next weekend and can just leave them outside at night inside the cold frame.

I noticed that my a couple Eggplants have started growing thorns on their leaves and stems.  I haven’t grown these before but they seem to be doing well inside under the grow lamps.  They are right by the heater so I think that helps too.  I definitely have way too many of them.  Right now I have 16 Eggplants after transplanting them.  One was significantly behind the others so sacrificed its space for a healthier plant.  I see another one that looks pretty weak, the leaves a droopy and yellowing.  If the fertilizer doesn’t help it I might have to get rid of that one too.  I’m a little worried that I won’t be able to grow these in my plot since it’s not very warm here.  I’ll definitely put 1 or 2 in a container on my porch since the reflected heat will help it.  Hopefully if all goes well I can give a couple seedlings away!

Last year I planted a few things on my porch - it was the only place I could grow anything.  This year I have some more room at my apartment as there is both a front porch and a back patio.  The front porch faces North so there isn’t much light at all, though I did have success with some Herbs out there last year.  The back patio gets a good amount of light and is warm due to the reflecting heat off of the house.  Unfortunately, I’ve noticed that it can be windy back there.  This year I also have a Community Garden Plot.  It’s not within walking distance of my apartment but I can ride there.  Therefore I have a much longer list of what I want to plant this year.  I’ve already planted the following:

Vegetables:

• Garlic - planted in the fall and has sprouted
• Artichokes - Green Globe Improved & Purple of Romagna
• Onion - Red Amposta
• Eggplant - Long Purple
• Pepper - Sweet Yolo Wonder

Herbs:

• Rosemary
• Chives

Flowers:

• Viola - Johnny-Jump-Up
• Chrysanthemum - Robinson Red
• Wood Hyacinth - Planted bulbs in the fall and are coming up.

Flowers are a new addition for this year.  

Left: Eggplants and onions.  Right: Eggplants after they were transplanted last week.

Left: Garlic after the hot weather.  Right: Artichoke.

Peppers in front, Chrysanthemums, then Violas planted 2 weeks ago.

Last year I was able to have a small garden on my porch.  I grew:

Vegetables:

• Lettuce: Mesclun - Farmer’s Market Brand from seed
• Carrots - Tonda di Parigi from seed

Herbs:

• Basil - Italian Genovese from seed and seedling
• Dill from seed
• Spearmint from seedling
• Rosemary from seedling
• Cilantro from seedling

The lettuce was really easy to grow though I should have staggered my plantings as it all came up at once and I wasn’t able to eat it before it got huge.  I was able to find some pictures of the lettuce and carrots from last year.

Left: Lettuce.  Right: Carrots.

The carrots were a really small round variety that worked for my containers because there was no risk of them touching the bottom.

I used all the fresh Basil I had a lot, mostly on pizzas…  Most of this was from the plant I had bought at Gardner’s supply since the Basil I started from seeds was planted way too late.  I even tried to bring it inside when it got cold but it just died.  I planned on using the Dill to make pickles since I had made some earlier this year.  I didn’t end up doing this but I was able to pull some seeds off of the plant for this year.  The mint grew way to fast, as I hear mint does.  It became pot bound very quickly and the stems turned woody while the leaves it produced were smaller and smaller.  I really don’t like trimming plants but saw what happens when you don’t.  Hopefully I’ll be better at that this year.  The Rosemary grew very well and I was using it at growing pace.  The Cilantro is another story.  When I moved to my new apartment I put it out on the front porch.  The Cilantro started to get white splotches on the leaves so I was afraid to eat it.  It eventually died.  I plan on succession planting it this year, and trying a different spot to hopefully be more successful.

I’m going to be growing all of these with the exception of the mint this year (plus a lot more).