This Is This Week

This week, I decided to share a bit about starting our spring garden.

Of course, this post is actually rather belated because we started seeds indoors months ago.

Too many months ago, it turns out.

Apparently I inadvertently looked at the wrong zone or something when I plotted our planting and seed starting schedule last fall.

So we have some rather large and very ready seedlings…

But it is too cold here on average still to plant them outside.

Whoops!

We are now essentially trying to keep the plants alive until our outdoor temperatures rise enough so that we can safely put them in the ground.

We are experiencing some yellowing of the leaves (likely the result of nutrient deficiency or watering issues – either of which may be related to the lack of space we have to up-pot the seedlings at this point).

Nevertheless, we are doing what we can and getting our planting area ready!

We also had to revise the plan I drew out last fall a bit because we decided not to expand quite so much this year. We were intending to nearly double our planting space initially. Here’s our DIY garden map. Tell me how you plan your gardens in the comments below!

What we have done (outside) so far

Last year, we tilled and planted about 2/3 of a partially enclosed area in our yard. The existing fence created a separate space, but the fencing isn’t ideal for deterring critters and unwelcome guests from our lovely seeds and the fruits of our labors.

It worked pretty well last year though so we decided to till the remaining third of the space and leave the fencing as-is for now. Fingers crossed that word didn’t get around to the local wildlife about the hottest free “all-you-can-eat vegetable buffet.”

We also installed some cattle panel arches last year and expanded those this spring.

These arches are great for trellising vining plants and for supporting indeterminate tomatoes (which grow to the tops of the arches if pruned!).

After A. tilled the rest of the enclosure, we worked together to amend the soil with more garden soil, lay landscape fabric, and mulch on top. This may seem excessive, but we have some serious weed problems because the garden plot was neglected for many years it seems before we bought the property last year.

A. also built some quick boxes from scrap lumber to create little raised beds along the arches.

We are hoping all of these steps will reduce the struggles we face with weeds this year. 

Once we had this corner prepped, we planted many of our kale seedlings and seeds (lettuce, peas, beets, carrots, broccoli rabe, and spinach).

My kiddos got excited too and asked to plant some things, so A. cut a few of these old blue barrels we have been repurposing for various uses and created some garden containers for each of them.

What I have been working on this week

With the early plants in, we set to work on getting more sections of the garden ready for planting (which will likely occur next month).

I convinced A. to take a break from this portion of the preparations so he could refocus on some of our indoor renovation projects.

So, continuing to capitalize on small chunks of time, I worked a little bit over several days to pull back sections of last year’s landscape fabric, turn the soil over by shovel, add more garden soil, and lay new landscape fabric with mulch.

A. ended up needing some outdoor projects (because apparently yardwork is decompressing and relaxing for him…) toward the end of last week, so he ended up finishing up another section (spreading additional garden soil and adding new landscape fabric:

I am always energized by the emergence of the sun earlier in the day, the extra hours of sunlight at night, and the (slightly) warmer temperatures.

How about you? Do you get a burst of motivation come springtime? What is your favorite seasonal activity this time of year? 

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