The Vegetable Garden 2011

It’s almost Summer (I think). Every late Winter to early Spring I get very gung ho about the garden.  Usually this happens because it warms up, and makes me think Summer’s on the way and it’s time to get started. Not so much this year… yeah, we had a couple over 100 degree days, and set a record or two, but mostly it’s been cold, and windy. Which hasn’t done much for my gardening motivation. We’ve also had little to no rain…

But that’s about to change (finger’s crossed). This week it’s supposed to rain for a couple days, and there’s chances for rain for the next 9 or 10 days, so I decided to get off my duff and get out in the garden!

Over the weekend we planted way too many watermelon and canteloupe seeds. We had this space where the corn planter wouldn’t fit, so it was perfect for planting. My husband is determined to actually GET a watermelon and canteloupe out of our garden… we’ve only been trying for 10 years! (We got really close last year, and the chickens ate it!)

Anyway… every year, I come up with this grand plan for the garden. It usually revolves around water, because when it gets wicked hot I hate going outside, and that’s when the plants need me to remember and actually water the most lol. Last year I set up some Ooze Tubes. They were GREAT. However, by the end of the Summer our terribly hard water had plugged up the holes in the tubes and they weren’t working any longer. 🙁 If you have normal water, these would be an awesome solution.

So here’s the big plan for this year:

Soaker hose and mulch.

I really do suck at watering, so I’m trying to put into place strategies that will help my garden survive and thrive and allow me to be a bit of a flake when it comes to watering.

I’ve put in a fence the whole length of one side of the garden, for beans. I’m trying to grow more food we actually eat, and we eat a lot of green beans. At the base of the fence I’ve installed a drip hose. Once the seeds come up I’m going to put a nice thick layer of straw over them to help keep the water in.

Lucky for me, the soaker hose is really long so it nicely wrapped through all my tomato plants as well. I’ve already got them all covered with straw and they’re looking good. 

I also planted zucchini, and butternut squash seeds yesterday and I’ll do the same with them once the plants come up… the soaker hose was long enough to reach the butternut, but I will probably get another ooze tube for the zucchini.

I also put in cucumbers. I changed the fence configuration for them this year, to accommodate the bean fence, but also because I decided to grow fewer cucumbers. While we LOVE cucumbers and eat a lot of them, we don’t like pickles. I make them every year, and every year they just sit in the cabinet. So this year, I’m going to plant fewer cucumbers.

Although… with all the canteloupe and watermelon we planted, it’s likely I will be heading to the farmer’s market with the excess, and I could certainly take some cukes with me too.

I planted a few potatoes in the garden back in March when I planted potatoes, and they’re doing quite well. They also need a nice layer of mulch to help keep the moisture in and the weeds out. I have a huge round bale of hay in the barn, but my husband boxed it in when he planted the corn. Soooo…. we’ll have to see if I can get it out somehow. 🙂

This is my favorite part of gardening. The planning, the possibilities… every year brings another set of endless possibilities to my garden. My hopes have yet to be doused by things not coming up, the hail, the bugs, the heat… I just love Spring. 🙂

Tell me… what do you do to manage watering, and what have you planted so far this year?