Free Day Number One: Planted the Salad Bed

Hey BraceKyle,

As said in my last post, I had two days of freedom from work before my trip to Maine (stay tuned). Day One was HOT! So hot that after 30 minutes outside, I got dizzy. I took many breaks, but still managed to get my salad plot planted.

A thorough update and overview of my efforts so far

SUPERKASEY!  We are now nearly two months into our little competition, and I hope you are feeling as good about this as I am.  Because, uh, you know.  They say it’s my year.

Whatever that means.

I wanted to drop you a general update on the goings-on in my garden.  Here is how things are looking now:

My first planting: everything is in the ground!

Well, SuperKasey, it is a lazy Sunday here, and a cloud of humidity has coasted into our river valley.  I think that means that the warm months have arrived STL-style: with loads of drippy sweat even when the temperature is low.

The potato plants are alive and well!

I’ve officially reached the world of mundane tasks

Good morning, SuperKasey.  I hope you and Chicago are enduring this chilly weather.  Any frost up there?  We almost had a (light) snap frost last weekend.  I moved my remaining seedlings indoors.  Speaking of which, I have two little containers of seedlings for my beans and my arugula.  I just leave them out in the garden most of the time, which maybe defeats the purpose, but they are in their own specially fertilized little containers, so I’ll plant them once they are grown.  Here’s a bit of everything:

You are absolutely right.  Now that everything is planted, sprouted, grown and, in some cases, thinned, flowering and budding, I’ve surpassed the stage of OMIGODTHINGSAREGROWING and now I’m onto OMIGODTHEWEEDSAREVERYWHERE.

Still.  Baby weeds compared to your monsters.

Organizing the raised bed

Hey there, SuperKasey.  I hope you are enjoying this weather.  Your view on pest control was good to read, and I’m glad to know that frogs eat slugs.  To answer your question, I am going organic with my crops.  I’m not intensely devoted to the organic trend, but if I’m growing a little garden on my own, it doesn’t make sense to me to use inorganic materials to pump it up or protect it.  Plus, those things cost money.  I’m more interested in finding natural, cheap or non-chemical ways of growing things.

Organization is a problem for me. In general.  In life.  I can be organized when I wish to be, but at heart I am a chaotic entity (some have said I worship at the feet of the goddess Discord).  Having said that, I knew that this garden thing had to be more orderly than my sock drawer.  I read about many people’s efforts to keep things neat and tidy, and I talked to a few gardeners.

Plants and seeds and MUTANTS!

Hey BraceKyle,

Welcome to the society of dirty knees!

The weather is finally warming up here, and so I can actually begin to think about planting. Thank goodness!

I’m doing a mixture of seedlings and plants as well.  What you said is true. Most one-time harvests with little or no firm shoot goes straight into the ground (i.e. lettuce, carrots, onions, etc). The trick is having good seeds to plant.

By seed or by plant

Hello, SuperKasey!  How is Chicago?  Windy enough for you?

This post is not about dirt.  Okay?  Stop giving me guff over my posts about dirt.  THE DIRT IS IMPORTANT!

So, as I dive into this whole shebang, I’m thinking about whether ’tis better to plant by seed or from a plant.

I hear pros and cons from both sides of the aisle, so to speak, and I think that several considerations must be undertaken.