Planting the 2016 garden

The 2016 season is well underway

With good help from Ron and Adrian the garden planting is 1/4 done. The smallest section of the garden, adjoining the perennial section of herbs, blackberries and asparagus is mostly planted. It started with a late planting of shallots and garlic. We had a basket of bulbs of each from last year’s crops and I planted these late in Jan or February. They look even better than those planted from purchased bulbs and cloves. We even took an old clutch of shallot bulbs still in the ground, separated them and replanted. They look really good too. This year I will be growing shallots year round by planting a few of the harvested bulbs straight away.

We have our peppers and tomatoes from the nursery.  Ron sifted the chicken manure compost and we have the perfect soil amendment. We fill a small channel down each row and till it in lightly and plant. We add lots of cottonseed hull mulch on top and add a drip line. I hope to use spiral stakes to trellis the indeterminate varieties (Arkansas Traveler and Brandywine) and stick and string to trellis the Celebrity and San Marzano plumb variety.

Here is our latest plan. The rows are about 50 feet long and East to West is about 100 feet. Our biggest crops will be okra, melons and corn. Still need to order the Bodacious sweet corn seed. Two seasons ago we had a tremendous corn crop of Bodacious. We saved the Alabama Red okra seed from last year.

We also have a raised bed garden with 9 raised beds that are 4′ x 16′. These are planted with any crop difficult to grow in a row. Carrot is a good example as they grow very well in loose raised bed soil and are difficult to cultivate in long rows. These beds are easy to prepare and are mostly planted.