Welcome back to my blog. If you live in Central NY State, you know how wet this Spring has been. How wet? Since managing to rototill the garden in later April, the garden most of the time has had standing water, even flowing water.
As seen in a previous post, I did manage to put out some kale, lettuce, and Brussels Sprouts plants in late April. Although they have survived, for almost a month they stayed the same size, almost frozen in time, as the cold temperatures hampered the growth. In the last week or so, they are finally starting grow!
In the next few days I will place more kale and lettuce in the "greens box" since the temperatures are finally warming up.
Also in a previous post, I planted snow peas about a month ago. Even in the extremely wet and cold conditions, the peas did germinate and are starting to take shape. It did take the peas almost 2 weeks to sprout. As an added bounus, my ducks made their way into the photo! They thought they were missing something!
Now that I've updated you on what was already planted, I will cover garden preparation. Since it has been so wet since I first worked the soil in April, I had to re-till the gardens. The soil is finally workable as long as we don't continue to receive above normal rainfall.
Last fall I added chopped leaves which rotted over the winter. This Spring I have not added fertilizer, as I do every few years. Also, it is a good idea to test the pH of the soil and adjust with lime if necessary. Usually the soil will become too acidic (from acid rain) which lime will remedy.
Once the soil is worked, the next step for me is to "ditch" the garden. I create shallow ditches along some of the garden edges to drain water during storms. I do this on the upper edges (highest) and one side edge. This will direct water away from the main body of the garden to protect the plants from washing out during a storm.
In this photo the ditch is on the right and upper sides although hard to see.
So stayed tuned as I will be planting more this weekend and in the weeks to come.
Next up will be onions and potatoes, and some more lettuce and kale.
Thanks for visiting and I appreciate your support.