Revisiting March Garden Goals

• Start seeds inside:  I have basil (Sweet and Big Leaf), one little lamb's ear, chamomile, cucumbers (Middle Eastern and Lemon), melons (Heart's of Gold, Congo, Sugar Baby, Banana, Honeydew), and squash (Sweet Mama Hybird, Trombocino, Hubbard) all happily growing in the potting shed.

• Plant seeds outside: Outside I have planted kale, kohlrabi, radish, turnip, spinach, beets, peas, swiss chard, carrots, and lettuce.  The only thing I haven't planted outside that it is time to plant is parsnips.  I've never grown or eaten parsnips before and I'm still debating whether to plant them.  I guess I can plant a few just to see how they do and whether I like them.

• Plant potatoes:  I planted yukon gold, red, and white kennebec potatoes this month and they are sprouting.  Next year I want to branch out and get more exciting potato varieties- like purple ones and fingerling ones.  Although they are so much more expensive they the plain varieties I get at the local farmer's exchange.

• Plant onion sets:  I was planning on growing onions from seed this year, but I had mass causalities from the combination of the heat mats and upper 80 degree days.  So I got some onion sets and planted them this month.

• Transplant seedlings:  I transplanted Chinese cabbage, pac choi, head lettuce, a few broccoli and two cauliflower to the garden.  Something has been munching away at the pac choi and cabbage leaves.  Several seedlings are now leafless!

• Prep beds for planting:  I've been doing this as I plant.  I did cut the cover crops, but the wheat and the rye just keep sprouting back.  I'm going to have to turn the soil to plant my seedlings in the cover crop beds otherwise they are going to get overgrown with grasses.

• Fill raspberry bed with soil:  Raspberry bed was filled with a mixture of alpaca manure, soil, and compost.

• Fill potting shed bed with soil:  This bed was much bigger than the raspberry bed, so we got a garden soil mix at a local landscape place.

• Planting templates:  I made square foot gardening planting templates and you can read about the project here.  They are very convenient and make planting much quicker.  However, I'm not sure how durable these are going to be and I may end up making wood ones for next year.  

• Plant raspberries:  Raspberries are planted!  They look like a row of five sticks right now, but hopefully they will grow and make lots of yummy raspberries.  The variety I planted was Caroline, which is suppose to do better in our hot climate.

• Plant grapes:  I planted two Reliance grapes- one on each side of the arbor in the garden.  They also look like pathetic sticks right now.

• Plant asparagus:  I planted 13 asparagus crowns.  You can read about how I planted them here.  All of the crowns have sent up stems.  I wish I could harvest and eat some this year!

•  Get and plant blueberries:  I got two blueberry bushes- a Georgia Gem and a Powerblue.  They are planted behind the garden, which I discovered is just out of hose reach!  I may get another one or two bushes, but maybe not this year.

• Paint potting shed shelves:  Well, this didn't happen this month- too many things to plant to worry about potting shed shelves! 

• Make plant labels:  I did start this, but I'm not quite finished.  Next month!

Spring has definitely arrived with all the garden activity this month!  Things are going to remain busy through April and probably May too.  It's a lot of work, but I just love spring!