Spring Garden 2011

We had a blast planning out and planting our spring garden this year with the help of my dad (aka Papa Wu.)

First we raked up the rest of the leaves from winter - why didn't they blow into the neighbor's yard like last year? Mysterious Mother Nature...

Papa Wu helped us pull out any weeds and rake in the new soil.

I stapled down the guide string to help us know where to plant the seeds. If you are thinking about gardening in small space, check out squarefootgardening.com/

We planted our favorites like sugar snap peas, golden beets, rainbow carrots and lots of salad greens.

We also added some new veggies to try including purple string beans, asparagus, swiss chard and Sadie's new favorite, Brussel Sprouts!

All the seeds are in and the soil is patted down. We put the tall, fast growers in the back and short, slow growers in the front so everyone gets some sun.

Lillie cleans up the last few stray leaves.

Sprinkler fun after a long day of planting!

Ok, we did our part...what choo got, garden?

garden check

The garden has been planted for a few weeks and already, some of the lettuce and greens have made their way into a salad. I forgot how fast the radishes grow as well - we should start eating them in a few weeks. The sugar snap peas and the tomatoes will start to produce soon too. The scarecrow did a great job keeping the birds away but I still had a problem with some seeds disappearing. I think it might be ants so I sprayed a mixture of pureed jalapeno and water to ward off the bugs and keep the garden organic.

I had to replant about 4 squares and fill in some of the beets and carrots that were on the thin side. No big deal. I'll take some pictures this week. I'm placing an order with John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds this week to back fill the radishes and some of the greens that will be harvested in the next month. They have an amazing selection - everything from edible flowers to hard to find varietals. Here is the latest garden layout.

(click image for full size view)

Here is a great shot of Lillie with last years spring garden after about 8 weeks.