Gorgeous day - perfect for gardening!
Ok so today had to be the best day of the entire year so far. The BEST kind of day in my book. 70 degrees and sunny, small warm breeze. Days like this are few and far in-between. Jayson and I have been thinking about doing a garden all winter. We gave it a good shot a few years ago, only to be sadly disappointed by the deer. Right before harvest, they came through and ate everything they could get their teeth into. It was quite discouraging and we're going to give it another go this year. Though we can't plant too many things yet, since there is still chances of frost, we've definitely been able to get the garden area ready and waiting. First we had to build the bed. Jayson went to the hardwood store and bought so large boards and screwed them all together to form a "frame".
Next we drove to his dad's house, outside of town and hauled two truckloads of soil from HIS garden area. Shoveling was a real chore and tiring as heck but we did it! Next we'll finish the frame and put deer netting around the area to keep the deer out. We'll also tie white material around the entire thing. Deer see white as a threat and so they tend to steer clear of moving white objects. Wish we would have know that a couple of years ago! We still have to work on the frame, but we wont need it for a few weeks since we won't be able to even plant the rest of the crop until the last few weekends in May.
The only thing I was able to actually "plant" today was the tomatoes. As long as they are covered, they are able to be planted. And Sam from Maxwell's Nursery in Alturas, recommended these tomato covers. They are so cool! You fill the outside of them with water and they create a sort of "igloo" (as he described it" around the tomato, keeping it warm inside and keeping the frost from ruining the sensitive baby leaves. I bought some "Early Girls" and some "Celebrities". I also started some Cherry tomatoes seeds that I will plant later on. I love cherry tomatoes, especially in a garden. Once they ripen up, it is so awesome to be able to walk into the garden and pick one right off the plant and eat it.
So, like I said before, I started several things indoors: zucchini, butter squash, watermelon, pumpkin, sunflowers and broccoli. When it's warm enough, I'll plant sweet peas and corn directly into the ground.
As you can see it's not much yet, but I'm hoping by the end of May, I'll have several successful "starts" going and i'll be able to plant in the garden. The more I think about how much room I'll need for each individual thing I want to grow, the more I am worried I wont have enough room. I might have to move the broccoli to a different location and build another fence. Oh well I guess we'll worry about that when it comes. Bye for now!
