Well at least I am learning lessons for NEXT year...

This year the weather has been unusually wet and cold in the spring. I had to replant the soy beans twice and am finally seeing some results. But, judging from their height so far, not getting my hopes up that they will mature before the end of the season. The corn also is not as high as it should be by this time of year.

Soil testing, soil amendment, drip irrigation, and black plastic mulch, are all things I plan to do next year. The soil is the most important part, but the drip irrigation and plastic will greatly reduce the amount of maintenance required.

So far this year though, we have been able to enjoy a few pea pods which were surprisingly sweet. The peas bay far are the winners this year, but I have some squash, carrots, and cucumber plants that are showing some promise also.

Vines Are a Growin'

The peas are now sporting vines, so I built a frame and net to support them. Using a few cedar 2x2s' I had laying around, I made a box frame and strung it with twine. It took a bit of time to tie the web together, but the end result looks good.Everything seems to be waiting on some warmer weather to really take off. The squash has been up for a week or so, and the green onions are just starting to show sprouts. Now for some sunny days to get things growing!

A Little Cleaning Up...

I decided to lay some gravel next the house to extend my existing patio in order and generally make it looks cleaner. Besides, it will provide some room for setting up some furniture and a bar-b-que for the summer. This backyard project is beginning to come together. After cleaning up a bit, it's looking good.
Now to move those trees and finish the remaining garden beds...

Starting to Resemble a Small Farm!

Well, I got tired of the using the shovel to break up the ground after a few rows. So I went to Home Depot and rented a large tiller. It was well worth the $65, and only took about 2 hours to complete. It broke the ground up well even though it has been raining hard for the last 24 hours. There were only a few spots where the clay was sticky, but overall it turned out nice.I drug my feet through the soil to make the rows (lacking a proper plow) and planted a few more rows of corn and the rest in soy beans as a cover crop. I left a few rows on the end for some miscellaneous seeds yet to be decided.

Sod, Sod, Sod...

This past weekend brought beautiful weather, and quite a few sore muscles. I rented a gas-powered sod cutter to remove the sod from the new garden area. Cutting the sod itself was the easy part. After figuring out the controls for the thing, it was not much harder than pushing a lawn mower around the yard. Then came the hard work.


I tried to roll the sod up and away, but I found the rolls to be unwieldy, heavy, and they broke apart after moving them very far. So, I turned all the sod strips upside down (having the grass side down created less friction) and drug them over the stack for composting. I was surprised at the weight of even the small pieces of sod. It took most of the day Saturday for my wife and I to move it all. So the hard work is finally over, right? Wrong...

Now I have this wonderful clear space, but it is too hard for the rototiller to break through on its own. I took a round shovel and turned over a small section of the dirt and broke it into smaller chunks with the tip. Now the rototiller seems to do a good job. Based on how long it took to finish even a small section, I can see that this will take quite a bit of time to finish the entire area. Or, I might try to locate a larger rototiller that can take a bigger bite.

All in all, it was a productive weekend. I even managed to plant two rows of corn!

Must Have Done Something Right...

This first seedlings are beginning to rise from the ground. It began with a single Daikon sprout, and was soon followed by many more.

Daikon:
Beans:
Summer Squash (Green):

Raised Bed Progress...

I now have 3 of these beds built and the gravel put down. My wife helped me plant a few veggies in them last weekend, so in another week we should start seeing some seedlings pop up if we are lucky.


The soil seems to have too much sand in it though. It drys out very quickly! I am not sure if this is because they are raised beds, or if I need to add some more organic material to the soil. I'll just let it go for a few weeks and see how things turn out.