This will be our first growing season at our new place, and we finally, for the first time in many years, have a big, full-sun spot for our garden. This has been a long time coming…..to say that we are excited would be, well, putting it mildly. I spent many hours during the cold months of winter and early spring dreaming and planning….making up our seed order was a lot of fun, as we have space for so many more things this year, and we’ll be growing several varieties we’ve never grow before. I got our seedlings started in late March and April (with much help from Connor and Ian), and they grew inside for a bit on the light table that Ben built. Then when things warmed up a bit I was able to move them outside to the greenhouse.
There’s been a lot a lot of prep work to do on the ground as well. There was no sign of a previous garden, though our neighbors told us that there used to be a small one in the back 20 or 30 years ago. Given that we’re in an 1812 farmhouse, there must have been alot more than that at some point, I imagine. In any case we had to start from scratch this spring, tilling up lawn to make a plot. We had the soil tested through the University of Maine extension service, which was very helpful in knowing what and how much we needed to add in terms of amendments. Not surprisingly, the soil needed a bit of help– it was very acidic, and was lacking a lot of minerals, of so we added lime (400 pounds to be exact–yikes!), as well as 150 pounds of greensand, 150 pounds phosphate rock, and 10 yards of compost.
We’ve gotten a few things planted, but with all the prep that we had to do, and all of the rain over the past week or so, we’re a bit behind. Fortunately our seedlings have been patient–so far they seem to be happy enough hanging out in the greenhouse. Hopefully we’ll be able to get them all in the ground, along with the rest of the seeds, this weekend!
Jerry
July 27th, 2014 at 21:36