soaphouse's Blog
soaphouse's posts about: plan
Apr 18, 2008 | 6:19 AM PST
Tags: raised bed , vegetable garden , veggie , tomato , eggplant , companion planting , seeds , last frost , plan , hostas
I have had a wonderful couple of days in the garden! All the planning that I did over the winter months is starting to come together and since our last frost date has come and gone (April15), I got to start planting!!!! HOORAY!
First thing I did was put in all the annual flower seeds for the bed I laid out around the porch:
It doesn't look like much now, but soon it will have (from back to front) Sweet Pea Vine, 2 Varieties of Sunflowers, Bells of Ireland, Nemophila: Baby Blue Eyes and Sweet Alyssum.
I also had a great helper:
Then, when hubby got home he was kind enough to help me plant and divide all my new hostas! (Its a bit hard to bend over these days at 9 mo preggers) HAH!
We divided up and planted a few different varieties of hostas and put some under the saucer magnolia:
And the rest in the evolving azalea shade bed:
I also moved a couple of hostas from the hydrangea bed over to the azalea bed. This will make for a nice collection and I think they will fill in very nicely. They were all actually easier to divide than I thought and I was able to save a lot of money that way!
But, perhaps the most exciting part of the afternoon was installing the veggie bed plan! Here is a pict of the master companion planting plan:
And the results:
I know, doesn't look like much...I started everything from seeds except the tomatoes, eggplants, bee balm, peppers, and strawberries. I am super excited to see how all of this comes together! Hope the companion system proves to be effective. The only thing that didn't get planted yet are the sweet potatoes. Still waiting on those in the mail. They won't ship them until after May 15th....apparently they only like REALLY warm soil.
The plants that I purchased are as follows:
Tomatoes: Yellow Pear, Husky Cherry Red, and Better Boy
Eggplant
: Black Beauty and Ichiban
Pepp
ers: Mexibell, Gypsy, and Yellow Bell
Strawbe
rries: Quinalt
All of the varieties of seeds can be seen by looking at a previous post and clicking here. I also added a sweet basil plant and Dark Opal Purple Basil to that as well as okra, but I forgot to jot down its variety :(
We finished up just as the sun was setting and I tell ya, it felt SO good! Especially to have this done before I have the baby :)
Now we will just water and wait:
Feb 1, 2008 | 5:37 PM PST
Tags: companion planting , veggies , spring , plan , shopping list
Well, the steps survived! It wasn't a torrential down pour, but it was more than a drizzle....the great thing is that the rain helped clean up the creek even more and the steps look more settled in.
I spent the afternoon dragging more brush to the curb. I also pruned my crepe myrtles and autumn ferns.
But, most notably, I did a lot of garden planning. I have been reading a book on companion planting lately and I really want to use this system in my spring/summer vegetable beds. But, its a lot to think about and my usual method of buying what sounds fun and throwing it in the ground was just making my head hurt...so I needed to plan.
First, I made my wish list of things to plant, then I jotted down their appropriate companions according to my book, then I made my shopping list. And, finally, I got it all down on paper!
Shopping List:
Seeds
:
Spinach
Radish
Carrots
Beets
Cosmos
Onions
Calendula
Plants: (Due to the drought...I plan on starting a lot less from seed this go around)
Cherry Tomatoes
An Heirloom Tomato
Big Boy Tomato
Eggplant
Bell Pepper
Brussel Sprouts
Bush Beans
Pole Beans
Spaghetti Squash
Strawberries
Corn
asparagus
Basil
Parsley
Asters
Dill
Chives
Bee Balm
Black Eyed Susan
Marigolds
I have 2 existing raised beds in the back (about 8 feet by 8 feet) The plan is to add 3 more by spring time... Here is the plan I came up with:
I know its a bit hard to see on the computer...but it will be so helpful to me. I will print it out before I go shopping and have it as a reference while I plant. Now I can get all that confusion out of my brain and onto paper....so, on to the next task!
