Transplants Have Hit the Garden

The end of May is my target date for getting my warm weather vegetable starts out into the garden. The weather has been warm enough to raise the soil temperature and the nights will hopefully stay above 45 degrees.



I now have a total of eight 4' x 4' raised box gardens this year for direct seeding and transplants raised indoors. All but two are now filled. I love the way some box gardens have permanent square foot dividers. Until I figure out exactly how I want to do that in my beds, I've been using bamboo garden stakes and move them to the next box as needed. Once the plants are large enough to claim their 1' x 1' space, it's usually not too hard to work around.



My vertical crops such as string beans and cucumbers are planted around a heavy pole inserted into the ground. I have an eye hook at the top of the pole and run string through that hole down to wooden stakes pounded into the ground at the edges of my plants. This provided vertical space for these vining crops to climb. The photos only show the stakes at this point.



Being that the garden is completely different this year, I decided to try something different as well for my tomatoes. Between the poles I've planted a single tomato and then spaced the remaining tomatoes out along a line at the edge of the garden where they will have more than enough space. I've been known to cram them into too small a space where the vines become a tangled mess and it becomes very hard to harvest their fruit.



There have been two harvests of mesclun, and I'm amazed at how much can actually be produced from one 1' x 1' square. It seems to rebound and take off growing again within the next day or two...think how fast grass can grow I guess. Planting a few squares of micro greens such as this ensures some early greens before actually heads of lettuce can develop.



Garden tasks ahead of me now include planting the pole beans, continuing to direct seeds root crops and greens in the remaining raised beds to be sure we have a continual harvest. We've got a space semi-ready for the pumpkins and winter squash, and they will be set out soon. Guess that means no trips to the pumpkin patch for us this year. We'll have to start having people over here instead!