Planting

Tilled up and planted almost all of the remaining garden yesterday.  The peas, lettuce, carrots and turnips planted previously are all coming up.  Yesterday I planted more peas, beans, chard, turnips, cauliflower, red cabbage, broccoli, dill and celery.  Dill and cabbage do well together as do cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage.  I have left a few rows unplanted to plant more peas and beans in the next couple of weeks.

Next.....plant tomatoes and cucumbers in the greenhouse.  I'm really late this year but the plastic is up and the watering system will be hooked up tomorrow, then will add peat moss and mushroom manure to the beds and get planting.

Potatoes grown in Straw

A few years ago I thought I'd grow potatoes in straw.  Well it didn't work out as well as I thought it would, I have since done some more research and have decided that I planted them in a spot that held to much moisture.  Today I decided to try another spot, outside of the garden.  I put down a black biodegradable cover, covered that with some soil mixed with compost, place my potatoes, added a little more soil and then covered the row with about 6 inches of straw and watered them really good.  From the research I've done I should only have to water them once a week.  So we will see what happens this year. 

I planted one row of Red Chieftens that should be ready in about 65 days.  They are a high yield potatoe.  The second row I planted  Russets, they should mature in 80 days and this variety is know to store very well.  I will update as the potatoes grow.

Shopping for plants

Today I picked up peat moss to till into my garden.  I bought this at well know store, along with the peat moss I purchased some mushroom manure to add to my flower beds. 

While shopping I noted that the store had heather plants for sale.  Now being the granddaughter of grandparents that grew and sold heather all over North America, as well as having a plant named after my grandmother KNOW that heather does not grow in the north.  So be careful when shopping for plants.  These stores purchase the same products for all stores regardless of location, and when looking at the tags for these plants there are no climate zone numbers on the tags.

Not only were they selling heather, but I noted about 5 other plants that do not do well in the north.  So beware.

Planting in the Vegetable Garden

This week I tilled and planted about a third of the garden.  I've done allot of reading and experimenting with companion planting and am a firm believer.  If you are just getting started with companion planting I would recommend the book "Carrots Love Tomatoes" by Louise Riotte. 

Onions, Beets, Carrots, Peas and three varieties of Lettuce is what got planted so far.  Only one row each of carrots and peas to start. (I want to make sure I've got some earlies - only 4 bags of peas left in the freezer)  It seems I never plant and freeze enough peas.......or is it never freeze enough because they get eaten right from the garden?

Carrots and Peas grow very well together, onions help to repel the carrot fly.  Beets grow well with onions and lettuce, they also grow well with bush beans but not pole beans.  Onions grow well with the cabbage family and like beets, tomatoes and lettuce but do not like beans or peas.

All the above can be planted before the last frost.  The beets usually 2 to 3 weeks before the last frost, if it looks to be iffy I will just cover the rows.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to get the plastic on the greenhouse.
Hoping for a warm sunny day tomorrow....................

Snow in May in the Cariboo

Well the last few days it's been rain, snow and hail.  That seems to be the norm for the Cariboo this time of year, and Lord knows we really need the moisture this year.

I'm waiting for a nice warm day so I can put the plastic back on the greenhouse.  Had it been on things would be growing in there already, but every so often it's time to change the plastic and this is the year.

I found the big garden was a little to dry last year so I've picked up some peat moss and will rotatile that into the ground along with some compost before planting. My goal is to do some of that this week, well at least get the rotatiling and maybe my onions and lettuce planted. Lettuce really does well in cooler weather, and really any root vegetables can be planted as soon as the soil can be worked.

Well happy gardening to all..............