Chicken Wing in May

The garden just explodes this time of year. Now with the threat of frost gone, usually the last week in April in the Willamette Valley, every seed sprouts. And that includes weeds! Well, there are no such things as weeds... but I end up having to pull out a lot of plants that I like because they are taking over the plants that I am trying to grow. I only remove "weeds" when I am ready to plant somewhere or if they oare overcrowding other plants. But until then, I'll let the weeds do their thing. Weeds are there for a reason: they are mending the landscape. Some weeds bring nutrients up from deep in the ground, others break up soil. Some attract insects, while some keep them away. Keeping bedspace covered at all times, even if it is with weeds, help keep moisture in the soil because soil is not exposed to heavy rains or the sun. A weedy garden means the soil is good. If weeds don't grow, then you should be worried. Something is very wrong with your soil if you are not weeding in May.

Early Tomato Planting at Chicken Wing

Because of the unseasonably warm and dry weather ,and its expected continuation, I went ahead and planted the tomatoes in early may this year. It was getting HOT in the hoop house during the 80 degree days we've been having, where they had been for the last two months. In addition, my tomatoes plants were very large already, and were itching to get in the ground. I could tell because some were starting to flower. I quickly pinched off flowers and started lookin to plant!

When planting tomatoes, here is what I do...

Dig a deep hole - two feet or so. You want to plant the tomato deep in the ground in order to give the plant more stability as it grows. Tomatoes can be buried, and will grow roots out of its former stem! Don't try this with most of your other veggies, as the stem will rot.

Plant tomatoes with enough room to grow big. I like to plant densely, about 1 plant every foot and a half  to two feet.  I prune tomatoes heavily - down to two main stems per plant - so plants don't get too bushy and fruit gets bigger and tastes better.

I add some sea kelp for extra nutrients at the bottom of the hole. I also add compost.  Tomatoes like lots of nutrients.

I prune off the bottom leaves in order to plant the tomato deep into the ground. It makes the plant seem much smaller after you plant it, but it will be stronger and happier. Don't worry, it will get plenty big!

After pruning to bottom leaves off. It's ready to go in the ground!

The tomato goes deep in the hole.

Make sure the soil in nice and fluffy around the tomato so that water doesn't sit or puddle near the tomatoes.

Tomatoes in a line... hope they grow big!

Chicken Wing is lookin good!!

Chicken Wing Garden in April

Perennial herbs and flowers sprouting!

April is such an exciting month in the garden. Teased with days in the mid 70's and sunny, followed by a week of cold rain, and chilly slug-filled nights.

But the garden comes alive in April... Most perennials and seeds that over-wintered start growing in April as well. It has been really fun to see what is growing at chicken wing. There is lots of bounty already, borage, calendula, queen anne's lace, succulents, mallow, sage, and more!

We are also working hard planting seeds for the UFC... beets chard and spinach have dominated. We also planted chamomile, valerian, arugula and cilantro.  April and may are full of seed planting followed by nail-biting over whether they will grow. It sometimes seems as though nothing is going to grow but it always seems to! Chicken wing doesn't seem to have any problem growing everything else, so I can only image how many chenopods and cucumbers will be coming out of the garden in a couple months!

Tomatoes in UFC hoop house look GREAT!
Big as my head

Adding chalk board paint to the front sign!

Spinach starts and large borage

Chard sprouts

First Asparagus harvest!

Borage - amazing in the garden for many reasons...

Finishing touches to the UFC sign

Nitrogen Nodules at Failing St Garden

Cover crops can be used for a variety of reasons....

But in good soil, faves beans are ideal nitrogen fixers for overwintering cover crop

Check out the nodules of nitrogen. All legumes fix nitrogen and are good in any garden whenever possible!

Chicken Wing March 2013

Chicken Wing March 2013

March is exciting... Start turning over beds, pulling weeds, turning under cover crop, transplanting, spreading compost, seeding in the greenhouse, planting potatoes, peas and arugula, and sowing the first seeds outside by the end of the month. The work you do in March shapes the garden for the whole year. It's a good time to dig into the soil because it is still wet and easy to work, but not waterlogged.

Asparagus shoots

Planted Beets, Spinach, Cilantro and Chard

Peas popping up

Rhubarb poking it's head out

Garlic

Arugula babies popping up between garlic

Arugula sprouts

Borage - all over Chicken Wing!

New Slug Barrier at Mason St Garden

Slugs have been a terrible problem for the mason street garden. With low plant diversity and unhealthy soil, pests are not controlled. To make the soil healthier, I added a bunch of compost and all the organic matter I could glean in the fall. My soil looks much richer and healthier already!

In addition to making soil improvements to try and help w pest control, I am also removing the slug habitat. I have violet in my front yard, which provides an ideal home for slugs. I removed some of the violet and put up a wooden wall in order to try and stop the slug problem before it starts this year! It also makes the garden look a lot cleaner. It also gives me a bit more space to garden!

Compost At Chicken Wing

Chicken Wing Garden's soil was lacking in organic matter and nitrogen along w other important elements. In order to begin to amend the soil, I have added compost to all of the beds. Compost is broken down organic matter, which provides everything that plants need. Right after spreading, I could already notice the soil was much easier to work as it was lighter and fluffier. This will hopefully help with soil compaction, a problem in the garden last year.

I will hopefully get more compost for spreading again later in the year.