2016 Garden Tasks

Garden Activity Log for 2016

April

4/16 – very heavy rain is expected – 3+ inches. We are still trying to plant peppers and tomatoes. Corn field is not yet ready to plant (too wet to cultivate). Bodacious takes 77 days to harvest. Very concerned that any seed planted will wash away. This rain may delay further planting by 10 days. !?

• Harvesting Asparagus – grade A thick and tender.  The Jersey Knight variety is doing much better than Mary Washington.
• Planting:
  • Tomatoes (Arkansas Traveler, Brandywine, San Marzano and Celebrity)
  • Peppers (Jalapeno and Bell)
  • Summer Squash (Scalloped, Yellow, and Zuchini)
  • Collards
  • Sweet potatoes
  • Sweet Corn – Bodacious (got seed online for $20/pound delivered from Mountain View Seeds)
• Composting
  • the new chicken house has it’s first load (a 3 inch layer of shavings and manure)
  • get shredder and shred old garden material (okra) for the new pile
• Cultivate:
  • Potatoes – continue to cover plant
  • Prepare corn by soil testing and adding nitrogen as needed just before planting.
  • Side dress onion and shallot with fertilizer

March

• 

  Raised bed garden for 2016

  planting:

  • peas
  • potatoes
  • parsley
  • turnip
  • cilantro
  • beets
  • cabbages
  • chive
• Put up horizontal trellis for peas and beans.
• Make drip line manifolds – feeder lines to drip lines for the once fallow areas. Re-plumb the risers with PVC to flex line connections
• Mulch and feed blackberry and strawberry patches.
• Buy a chipper shredder to process last year’s foliage and stalks into compost or mulch.
• Order more seed:
  • Bodacious Sweet Corn
  • King Arthor Bell Pepper

January – February 2016

• Do soil testing
• Make improvements and add new wire to fence. Peanut butter on to wire to keep deer out.
• Prepare raised beds for garlic, onion and shallots. Late planting of shallot and garlic Jan 28.
  • Raise 3 foot wide center
  • add chicken manure compost to middle and mix
  • put drip line down middle of rows
  • Buy and plant onion sets. Find leek sets or use seedlings in garden.
• Till up the fallow sections – soil moisture was ideal
• Turn Compost and begin new piles
• removed last year’s foliage from the garden – asparagus, tomato, peppers, okra.
• Order seed