Gardening season is in full swing and things are looking pretty good this year. I started my tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and sweet potatoes in the house in late February. I kept them in the bathroom, which is nice and cozy warm and has a good level of humidity, so I had excellent germination. Once the seedlings started getting bigger I began taking them out to the greenhouse during the day, then bringing them back inside in the evening when the temps dropped.

Once the night time temps were around 50 degrees I left the seedlings in the greenhouse full time. If the temps dropped below 50 I covered them with a row cover. I also had them surrounded with glass jugs full of water which absorbed the heat of the sun during the day and slowly released it at night (sort of a greenhouse within the green house 😉 ).

By March the garden beds were all set up and ready for planting. For the first year I’m trying no till gardening in the big garden. I put down a thick layer of compost over each of the beds and planted right in that, then mulched heavily with straw. I’ve certainly got tons of worms, and the soil is rich and loose- no need to even use a trowel or shovel- I just used my hands to gently move the soil enough to make a space for the plants.

The tomatoes did really well and I think I only lost one or two after transplanting. There always seems to be at least a few casualties. The peppers really struggled at first though. I think the soil was colder than I realized, and peppers need warm soil to thrive. Eventually they perked up though, and those that survived are doing well now and even flowering. I planted some Banana peppers in pots and they’re doing really well, in part because the soil in the pots is considerably warmer than the soil in the beds. I’ve also been fertilizing with Epsom salt every two weeks- that really perks up the veggies!

I planted a lot more things in pots this year, and overall that’s working out really well. The zucchini and yellow squash that I planted in pots sprouted and grew faster than those that I planted in the ground (once again, probably due to warmer soil). I planted lots of flowers in pots and as they start flowering I’ve been putting them in various areas of the yard where I’ve had difficulty getting seeds to survive in the ground.

Above you can see that the zucchini (with chives in front) is doing well. All the zucchini and yellow squash have fruit now (I’ll probably be able to pick my first yellow squash tomorrow!). I’ve been fertilizing with Chicken Poop Soup once a month and Epsom salt every 2 weeks and the plants have been thriving.

“Recipe” for Chicken Poop Soup: 1) Rake out the chicken yard and put the chicken manure in a 5 gallon bucket. 2) Fill bucket with water and stir well. 3) Cover and let sit and ferment for a month, stirring occasionally. 4) Strain the solids, dilute well (I dilute one 5 gallon bucket of pure soup to make 4 buckets of diluted fertilizer). Water plants with the diluted soup, trying to avoid getting it on the leaves. I spray the plants with the hose to make sure none of the leaves get burned. So far I haven’t had any issues.

One warning: this stuff STINKS! But the plants love it 😉

This year I planted all my potatoes (Yukon Gold and Gold Rush) in big pots filled with compost. They sprouted faster than ever before and are absolutely thriving! I can probably start harvesting potatoes any time now. I also had a bunch of potatoes from last year come up in the raised bed along with the sweet potatoes I planted.

I ended up with a ton of sweet potatoes this year (I lost count after 40 slips 😉 ), so I’ve got them planted all over. Some are in pots in the greenhouse, which are doing really well, some are in raised beds outside, and some are in the ground in the greenhouse. The ones in the greenhouse are doing the best. They’re another heat loving plant, so they’re perfectly comfortable at 100 degrees or more, just as long as they have enough moisture and mulch. This year I’ve really been going heavy on the mulch, and even when the outside temps have approached 100 there was minimal wilting and signs of heat stress, and the soil was still nice and cool.

Now this lettuce above is the most awesome lettuce I’ve grown yet. I planted the seeds in late September last year, then forgot about them when nothing came up for a month. These were from seeds I’d saved the previous year. Then in JANUARY I noticed a few tiny lettuce sprouts, and thought “Oh cool, I might get a few plants out of this after all”. So I covered the area with a row cover and forgot about it again. I didn’t have much hope for a very good harvest, as temps were dropping down to the teens at night. When I finally took the row cover off in late February I saw a whole row of beautiful Trout Speckled Buttercrunch lettuce (my Trout Speckled Romaine crossed with my Buttercrunch)! These plants have survived temps down to 14 degrees, and up to 97 degrees!! Not to mention winds up to 30 miles an hour for DAYS STRAIGHT! And although they were tough enough to survive those extremes (not to mention rather infrequent watering and a bit of unintentional neglect) the leave are thick and soft and succulent. You better believe I’m saving seeds from these beauties! They just started going to seed last week, so clearly they’re very slow to bolt, which is a definite plus in this hot climate.

This year I’v e done a lot of random planting and companion planting. There are a few benefits to this method versus planting large areas with a single type of vegetable. The plants seem to do better in small groupings, and if one area gets hit by bugs or disease, at least I won’t lose ALL of my zucchini, or tomatoes, or whatever else I’ve got. Interplanting also helps to confuse the bugs. It makes it harder for them to find their target food plant. This is also where companion planting can really help. Marigolds and nasturtiums are good companions for most vegetables, as are onions and garlic. They help to repel the bad bugs and encourage the good bugs.

One thing I’ve had a hard time growing successfully is cucumbers. I started them in pots in the house, then moved them out to the greenhouse when the weather got warm enough and they did really well until I transplanted then into the garden. Most of them have died now 😦 In the picture above you can see a really healthy spaghetti squash and a tiny sad little cucumber plant next to it. I tried planting the cukes in several different places and only 4 or 5 look like they might make it.

I did start a second batch of cucumbers in pots, and so far they look pretty good. Hopefully I’ll be able to get something out of them!

Some of my beans are doing really well, while others were eaten before they even sprouted through the soil. Between the bugs and the critters it’s a real battle to keep things alive. I had to start more butternut squash seeds because the first batch was eaten by bugs just as it sprouted. Mice have been pretty destructive too, so I’ve been putting traps out wherever I spot damage. I use Neem, Diatomaceous Earth, and hand picking to control the bugs, as well as encouraging beneficial insects and animals to live and hunt in my garden. I have LOTS of lizards in the garden, along with toads, and ladybugs, lacewings, and wasps. The flowers help to attract the beneficial bugs and the mulch also gives them a place to live. Oh yeah, I’ve got lots of ground spiders this year too. I also have a birdbath on the ground so the lizards, toads, and bugs have a supply of fresh water.

Above is another example of my random planting this year. I found small shaded spots under or behind the tomatoes and planted little patches of lettuce and greens. Surprisingly I’ve still been able to harvest lettuce even though the temps have been well into the 90’s every day.

Last fall I filled a bunch of pots with compost to put in the greenhouse and add some heat (they get really toasty in the sun!). I got a nice surprise early this spring when the tomato plant above spouted (don’t know what kind of tomato it is yet, but it’s doing really well and got flowers before any of the other plants). I love my “strays”- those plants that pop up on their own and seem to be stronger, more resilient, and more productive than the seeds that I planted intentionally. I’ve got a couple stray lettuce plants that have been providing leaves for the salad for months now. I’ve got a few stray tomato plants that popped up in the garden as well.

All in all things are doing really well, in spite of the intense heat and wind, not to mention the bugs and varmints (you wouldn’t believe how much the rabbits, mice, rats, and squirrels can devour!). It may sound silly, but I’m proud of my garden ❤ It takes a strong, resilient plant to survive and thrive around here, and my plants are putting on one heck of a show!

Thanks for stopping by- hope you enjoyed this little peek into my personal Garden of Eden 🙂

~Michelle

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