The weather has been very nice the past few days. It got up to about 70 degrees today before quickly cooling back down in the evening.
Last week, I planted the rest of the Copra onions and Varsity onions out in the front flower bed. I didn’t have any other place to put them. So, hopefully they will do well here – and they at least do act as a deterrent for the deer. Deer won’t eat our daffodils – but they are eating all of our tulips and pulling them out of the ground – so unfortunately those are goners.
A total of 10 Copra onions and 21 Varsity onions were transplanted.
I also took two pictures on April 5th (which is when the above was taken) to compare the progress that the celery & onions in the front yard along with the lettuce in the patio garden would change in a week.
From April 5th (just after transplanting the third row from starting containers to the garden on the left side):
April 12th:
April 5th:
April 12th:
Note that I put down some mulched-up leaves that I collected last year around the celery to provide some additional fertilizer when water trickles through – and to also keep the moisture in.
I also had some company over at the neighbor’s house.
The neighbor has a very nice lawn with all kinds of ornaments and things – but it certainly would be a bear to mow around! But, there is a deer caught in some headlights! Him/her and some if it’s cousins were walking around the area. As long as they stay away from my veggies!
The side garden is doing well. The peas are beginning to come up. Unfortunately, I planted about 334 Cascadia peas in two different areas – and only 140 have come up in 25 days. Wow – absolutely surprised that germination is that low! i went through and just put more seed right on the soil – I doubt they germinate, but if they do, it will help to fill in some of the barren areas.
The Tri-Star strawberry pyramids also had a make over this past weekend. On Saturday, I went through and removed most of the dead leaves and stems from the strawberries – then also put a good dose of mulched leaves around them for some protection and fertilizer.
The Granny Smith apple tree is also beginning to put on some greenery as well! I have to unfortunately put a net around the tree because the deer absolutely go deer-wild over this apple tree. The first year of growth was horridly stunted because the deer were eating whole branches off the tree as it was growing.
Also decided to share a picture of my whole front yard. There was a member on GardenWeb mentioning they were seeking ideas for front-yard gardening. Here shows the strawberry pyramids and grape arbor in the front, you can barely see the tree hiding behind the arbor, then the raised beds off in the distance.
Visiting the germination station for a quick moment – the tomatoes are growing like crazy! I don’t know what is in the water (well, I do – compost tea!) – but they are huge and look like they are ready for transplant already!
The peppers are growing very slowly – and then I still have a few other things – like extra broccoli and cauliflower that I don’t have room for. Hey – maybe I should get those transplanted to the flower bed tomorrow! There is plenty of room there.
And lastly – the job I was dreading for a while.
This area is just next to the house – but in front of the side garden bed. This area was used to grow potatoes for the past two years – but unfortunately, all of the potatoes in this area rotted last year. That is because the area is mostly filled with clay soil and had poor drainage.
Now, I put a lot of muscle into fully excavating the area. This year, we will be putting in some watermelon here – which I’ll be starting inside this week.
Today I put in some mulched-leaves into the bed. I’ll have to make a couple trips to the compost facility this week to get it all filled in.
