Potager Article #16
A series of articles presented by Candy Horton, an OSU Extension Master Gardener Volunteer
As the weather has started to get warmer, I have been able to get out into the garden to start cleaning up. I don’t think it will take as long to get it all back into order as I feared it would. The rain has put almost all of my work in the garden on hold, so I have switched up my plans. Before all of the rain, I was able to plant radishes, cold-weather lettuce, and spinach in the raised feeder bed. I now have tiny little seedlings poking their leaves up through the soil. With the temperatures that we are experiencing, these plants are slow-growing, but they are growing. I will get out in the garden this week to plant more spinach, lettuce, and radishes. I have been able to clean out the cold frame, and I will get some seeds into it. I’m going to try some carrots to see how they will do. I also have another bed cleaned out and ready, so as soon as it dries out a bit more, I will plant bush and pole bean seeds in that spot.
There are several nurseries open in my area, so I have picked up seed potatoes, asparagus roots, strawberry plants, and onion sets. I will be adding the additional strawberry plants to the bare spaces in the strawberry bed. Once I get those planted, I will put some straw on them to keep them protected from the cooler temperatures. I will be starting a new asparagus bed because when I moved the asparagus the previous fall, I don’t think they survived the move. I have been debating whether I should give the transplanted asparagus another year to see if they do better, but I will clear that bed at the end of this year if they don’t. I am also going to try a spring crop of garlic to see if I can get two crops per year rather than just one. If the weather holds, I am hoping to get a lot of those things done this week.
Another thing that I am going to be adding to the garden this next week is container gardens. I purchased some rubber buckets that are about 17 gallons in size that I will be using to plant potatoes. I have three different kinds of potatoes, and I have 12 buckets. I want to plant a different kind of potato in each bucket. Then, in a month, I will plant seed potatoes in three more buckets until I have used all of the buckets. My thought is that by the time I get to the third or fourth set of buckets, my first potatoes will be ready for harvest, and about every month after that, I will be harvesting potatoes. I want to see if I can harvest potatoes to use in either my Thanksgiving dinner or even my Christmas celebration in December. I will have to buy all of my seed potatoes now, but I think if I keep them in a cool, dry place, it will work. I will let you know.
When I was out in the garden before all of the rain, I moved last year’s compost pile into the next bin. I was so excited to see that it has been decomposing really well. This fall or early spring, I will have a really good batch of compost to use in the beds. I have also started my new batch and will continue to add to it all year. Once the season is over, I will leave it be until next spring. As I have been working in my garden beds, I have noticed that after a year of natural materials being added back into my garden, I’m starting to find a lot of worms in the garden soil. I was really worried about that and had considered and even planned for a worm farm. However, taking on the idea that by amending and adding healthy nutrients to the soil, the soil will become healthy and be a wonderful place to grow food for my family.
I have started looking over the middle section of the garden. I have found a very small plastic pond liner that I will order and dig out a space for. I have the plans all set for the insect hotels, and I have their location determined.