Spring Yard, March 23

The yard and all the trees (and even the weeds) are looking very pretty.  We even found time to put up some new house numbers.

Transplanting the Zambian Greens, March 23

They lived over night! Plus a random weed or spinach plant popped through the burlap.















Since the first eight lived, I'm going to transplant eight more today.
  











So first I cut through all the layers of the lasagna.










There's straw and leaves and compost and who knows what else in there.














Then I find the one I want to transplant.















Dig it up.

















Lift it out.












 
And carry the clump over to the spot I cut.











Then I just peel back the top layers and plop it in.


















Voila.





I did seven altogether (would have been eight but I left room for the rogue weed/spinach plant).

First Attempt at Transplanting, March 22

So the books and guides say that potatoes and hardy transplants are pretty much the only thing I can do in the lasagna garden the first year.  As you can see, the Zambian greens did amazingly well over the winter.  Both the tall stalks from last spring and the newer seedlings from the fall lived all winter and look really good.  I'd call that hardy.










 

I wasn't able to get in-process pictures, but I transplanted two rows of four into the lasagna.  I'm going to hold my breath over night to see if they make it.

Idris likes them.

Potatoes? 1 Week Later

 I planted 16 potato pieces in the lasagna garden last week.  I've got to peel back the straw this week to check what's going on.




Anything?














Growth!











Pretty little sprouts.  I can't believe this lasagna thing might work.

Getting Things Going: Potatoes, March 17

Let this constitute The Plan. And let us stick to The Plan as much as it makes sense to do so.
















It's time to dare to do something with this lasagna. Soooo, here it is "before."










I've marked out the spots where I'm going to plant little potato culls. Dad said to just make sure there's at least one eye or, preferably, sprout on each piece.








So I cut through the burlap with my VERY dull little sheers.









And stick a little sprouted potato piece in.











With a little help from Ken, I get four rows of four in there, all just from a few leftover potatoes going "bad" on my counter.









Then we cover with straw, and cross our fingers.

First Day Garden, 10 March 2012

I think I’m going to call today the official first day of the garden, 2012. Here it is, in all its burlap glory.













Here’s a closeup of the shabby result of my attempt at lasagna gardening (also known as sheet mulch).














And here are the Zambian Greens that I’m going to attempt to transplant into the lasagna. Maybe next week.














The Greens did pretty well over the winter, I think. They got these pretty purple edges, so they probably have to be picked down. But the little seedlings did great. I’m really hoping they transplant well, because I might not be able to get any more if they don’t. I might leave the entire row on the east side of the garden alone for now, just in case these don’t survive in the burlap.
































Next weekend, if the weather cooperates, I’ll transplant these and also plant potatoes. I hadn’t planned to plant potatoes, given the failed, stubby carrots of last year. But apparently potatoes are one of the few things you can plant right on top of the lasagna, under a layer of straw. Gee, I wonder where I’ll get straw?

We’d like to plant peas this week too. The tentative plan is to plant peas, arugula, and spinach soon – around the middle of March. If we’re going to do tomatoes from seed, we’ll also need to sow those inside right about now. Kale and chard will go into the ground around April 1, the same time as we sow peppers inside. Then things will ramp up in May, with tomatoes, peppers, purslane, cucumber, and parsley. I still need to look up dill, basil, and possibly a few other things.


But the exciting news of the week is that Vince’s fruit trees are already budding! I can’t remember which is which, but one is plums and the other is… something else. Enjoy the buds.