Thank Goodness for Daylight Savings Time
I may have jumped the gun (warm weather) a little bit, but yesterday was so pleasant that I thought I would do some planting. I've had broccoli, cabbage, choi, lettuce and tatsoi hardening off in my cold frames and they looked ready to go in the ground. So about 3 pm I started to plant in a bed I had prepared late last fall. The bed is raised approximately 10 inches above ground level, drains well and warms up quickly.
First up were the tatsoi transpants, planted 8 inches apart. Tatsoi is in the brassica family and is sometimes called spinach mustard or spoon mustard. It forms a rosette of spoon shaped leaves, is very hardy and can be used in salads (my favorite) or stir fried.
Next I seeded four rows of arugula planted perpendicular to the length of my 4 foot wide beds. My daughter loves the stuff. After that were three rows of radish seed, these for my son-in-law. I planted Cherry Bell and French Breakfast, The French Breakfast matures a little later than the Cherry Bell. Radishes will be planted a couple of rows a week. Finally, 3 or 4 rows of Tokyo Cross turnip seed. Not sure this will germinate, but hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Next were 20 or so transplants of choi on 8 inch spacing. First some Mei Qing choi which matures in 45 days and then some Win-Win choi which mature in 52 days, both of which are pretty hardy.. Great vegetable to grill, steam or stir fry.
Finally, planted the cabbage (Late Dutch Flat, Red Acre and Golden Acre), broccoli (Packman) and lettuce. I like the Packman because it is very quick to mature (about 55 days), which is important, since our Junes are warm. I plant my cabbage and broccoli pretty close (18 inches between plants in a 4 foot wide bed with one plant in the center, forming an X), Between the broccoli and cabbage, I put transplants of lettuce either butter crunch or red sails. The picture below is from a couple of years ago.
Finally, watered all of the transplants in with a 50% water soluble transplant solution, laid the drip irrigation tape, anchored it down with sod staples, spaced out my row cover hoops,and covered the whole shebang with row cover, anchoring the row cover with more sod staples. Here's the final result, it takes up about 35 feet of my 70 foot raised bed. Finished about sundown, tired but happy.
First up were the tatsoi transpants, planted 8 inches apart. Tatsoi is in the brassica family and is sometimes called spinach mustard or spoon mustard. It forms a rosette of spoon shaped leaves, is very hardy and can be used in salads (my favorite) or stir fried.
Next I seeded four rows of arugula planted perpendicular to the length of my 4 foot wide beds. My daughter loves the stuff. After that were three rows of radish seed, these for my son-in-law. I planted Cherry Bell and French Breakfast, The French Breakfast matures a little later than the Cherry Bell. Radishes will be planted a couple of rows a week. Finally, 3 or 4 rows of Tokyo Cross turnip seed. Not sure this will germinate, but hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Next were 20 or so transplants of choi on 8 inch spacing. First some Mei Qing choi which matures in 45 days and then some Win-Win choi which mature in 52 days, both of which are pretty hardy.. Great vegetable to grill, steam or stir fry.
Finally, planted the cabbage (Late Dutch Flat, Red Acre and Golden Acre), broccoli (Packman) and lettuce. I like the Packman because it is very quick to mature (about 55 days), which is important, since our Junes are warm. I plant my cabbage and broccoli pretty close (18 inches between plants in a 4 foot wide bed with one plant in the center, forming an X), Between the broccoli and cabbage, I put transplants of lettuce either butter crunch or red sails. The picture below is from a couple of years ago.
Finally, watered all of the transplants in with a 50% water soluble transplant solution, laid the drip irrigation tape, anchored it down with sod staples, spaced out my row cover hoops,and covered the whole shebang with row cover, anchoring the row cover with more sod staples. Here's the final result, it takes up about 35 feet of my 70 foot raised bed. Finished about sundown, tired but happy.
The rear of this row is reserved for Sugar snap peas and fava beans, but that is another blog.
btw: check out the GIEI classes in your county. We in Howard County are doing a couple of spring vegetable gardening classes, as well as classes on sustainable organic vegetable gardening and growing healthy brambles (raspberries and blackberries) in April.
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