{"id":2533,"date":"2015-05-22T10:00:10","date_gmt":"2015-05-22T14:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/?p=2533"},"modified":"2015-05-21T16:37:23","modified_gmt":"2015-05-21T20:37:23","slug":"what-weve-planted-so-far","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/?p=2533","title":{"rendered":"What we’ve planted so far"},"content":{"rendered":"

This spring has been rough on my garden in a number of ways.<\/p>\n

I was tied up with the furniture for Habitat for a solid month which left me little time for getting the garden ready. \u00a0My plan to take over the small triangle shaped garden by our patio for veggies seemed simple enough. \u00a0Each year I draw out the layout of all the gardens on graph paper so I have a plan. \u00a0It’s old school but it works and its a great thing to do while there is snow on the ground. I knew I was going to plant lettuce, beans and peas in the new garden and that the peas and lettuce were early crops. \u00a0I also knew the peas and beans would require I build new trellises. \u00a0What I didn’t know was how long it was going to take to get the trellises together and that I would need a fence.<\/p>\n

The trellises were built the same way I built my cucumber frame (tutorial here<\/a>) but without using a hinge to join the tops. \u00a0These are just one panel and I screwed on 4 pieces of the furring strips to the bottom as spikes to secure them in the ground. \u00a0I don’t have any pictures of this since it was about to rain and I was making it up. \u00a0I also added additional cross pieces for more stability. \u00a0I use furring strips because they are cheap and hold up pretty well but it’s not nice finished lumber and everything can be a bit wonky.<\/p>\n

As for my\u00a0second problem of a fence, \u00a0I have no idea how I thought I could plant veggies here and not have Opie either digging them up to lie in the cool dirt or just peeing all over them. \u00a0All of the other gardens have fences and gates. \u00a0Nothing too secure but more of a suggestion that he isn’t allowed. \u00a0He’s pretty respectful if he knows it isn’t his so I didn’t need anything too sturdy. \u00a0Since I didn’t want to spend any money on a fence I tried to think of how to use what we already had. \u00a0Then one day I am driving down my street and a neighbor had cut down a bunch of bamboo from their yard that was at their curb. \u00a0I had no idea what I was doing but figured I could use that to put together something to protect me veggies. \u00a0Here you can see I put together a little fence with some galvanized wire. \u00a0I think I am going to put on a second row of cross pieces so I will try to give you a tutorial on that. \u00a0So far it is working great.<\/p>\n

\"Ridiculous<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On the left trellis\u00a0I planted\u00a0Blue Lake Pole Beans and the right trellis has\u00a0Green Arrow shelling peas. \u00a0In front of the beans are a gourmet lettuce mix and arugula. \u00a0Some of the arugula is already done for since I waited to long to get the seedlings out of their tiny winter sow containers. \u00a0I had the same problem with the cilantro which is looking pretty bad in bigger pots. \u00a0Everything got a bit delayed while I was getting this all set up.<\/p>\n

Here is a close up of the peas. \u00a0A few didn’t sprout and since we are just getting started a stuck a few more seeds in. \u00a0They just poked through today. \u00a0I have each trellis planted with a row in the back and the front. \u00a0If all goes well the trellises should be covered with vines and make everything look a little nicer including blocking the view of the electric post. \u00a0Don’t mind my weeds everywhere. \u00a0When I am waiting for seeds to pop up I wait to pull anything so I don’t pull the wrong things.<\/p>\n

\"Ridiculous<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Here is the mess I still have on my hands.<\/p>\n

\"Ridiculous<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This is a mess of seedlings that I need to protect from the child and dog. \u00a0I put a gate on the section between the veggie beds awhile back and it gives me safe full sun spot. You can see the milk jugs and plastic containers I used for winter sowing which wasn’t great this year. \u00a0Totally my fault. \u00a0The idea is to create tiny greenhouses outside to protect fragile seedlings and to give them a head start. \u00a0It’s great for people with little room to start things inside and you don’t have to harden off when it’s time to plant. \u00a0The problem I had this year was the weather which was crazy. \u00a0Like 35 degrees at night and 80 during the day. \u00a0So as not to cook the plants I would open the tops in the heat. \u00a0Then forget to close them again and it would be cold and they wouldn’t grow. \u00a0They eventually got going but should be much further along at this point. \u00a0The milk jugs need to be taped closed which was a pain. \u00a0The plastic containers on the bottom right were the best since I could close and open as much as I wanted. \u00a0Also in the pic are a few organic herbs I bought already started (lavender, sage, oregano and another rosemary). \u00a0In the back are the metal pots with the strawberries.<\/p>\n

My first strawberry of the year. \u00a0One of the June bearers.<\/p>\n

\"Ridiculous<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Below\u00a0is a new kind of strawberry I am trying this year, an alpine variety Mignonette. \u00a0They have tiny fruit with intense flavor. \u00a0I plan to use them as borders for the front gardens since they are a clumping (no runners) plant and will fill in nicely. \u00a0Here they are still in their winter sowing containers (started from seed) waiting for me to get it together.<\/p>\n

\"Ridiculous<\/a><\/p>\n

Currently we have a big mess in the front yard. \u00a0Somehow we have a tree growing that is now too big to just pull out. \u00a0The daisies and the lilies of the valley have completely taken over the poor azaleas. \u00a0When I first moved in seven years ago I kept those pushy plants in check but during the time I was pregnant and taking care of a tiny baby it all got away from me. \u00a0The plan so far in to rip out most of the bed to get the offenders out. \u00a0I hope to be able to save the azaleas (which a neighbor told me could be 40 years old) and then plant herbs among the flowers. \u00a0Many of the herbs in the milk jugs and that I bought will go here. \u00a0But this is going to be a big job. I was waiting for spring flowers to bloom first before I wrecked everything.<\/p>\n

Here is one of the herbs I started, the thai basil. \u00a0These are pretty and delicious with purple flowers. \u00a0I actually planted this is the veggie bed thinking it was regular sweet basil, was all proud I was done then realized I grabbed the wrong container and had to take it out. \u00a0So I popped them into these little plastic pots I saved from something until I’m ready for the front. These things are tough to be happy through all that moving.<\/p>\n

\"Ridiculous<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And finally we have some purple tomatillos. \u00a0I saw them in a seed catalog and thought they would be fun. \u00a0They start out looking like a paper chinese lantern while the tomato like fruit grows inside. \u00a0These should be further along but they are catching up. \u00a0 These are planted in the same bed as the poblano peppers, the sweet basil, the carrots and the cucumbers. \u00a0 I just realized that the wood labels\u00a0are from last year and I should probably update them!<\/p>\n

\"Ridiculous<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Things are happening very slowly this year. \u00a0Having “help” in the form of a toddler who loooooooves digging with his new shovel doesn’t make things go faster but he does have me outside enjoying our yard more. \u00a0 He never wants to come inside.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This spring has been rough on my garden in a number of ways. I was tied up with the furniture for Habitat for a solid month which left me little time for getting the garden ready. \u00a0My plan to take…
Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2537,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[19,20],"tags":[399,398,82,300],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Ridiculous-Redhead-First-Strawberry.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1J4KT-ER","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1513,"url":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/?p=1513","url_meta":{"origin":2533,"position":0},"title":"Spring is here. It’s time to garden.","date":"May 3, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"You may have noticed there have been no seed starting\/winter sowing posts this year. \u00a0No mid February excitement about tiny leaves popping up. \u00a0No posts about Opie knocking dirt everywhere. This year we changed it up a bit for a two main reasons. First, with Lincoln taking up a good\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Garden"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ridiculousredhead.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_4288.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2067,"url":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/?p=2067","url_meta":{"origin":2533,"position":1},"title":"End of July Garden Update","date":"July 31, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"One of the best things about our garden is how little upkeep it requires. \u00a0Since we don't use any pesticides or chemical fertilizers I don't need to know anything complicated. \u00a0Add compost. \u00a0Add water. \u00a0And things grow. There are of course lots of little things that can make you life\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Garden"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ridiculousredhead.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Ridiculous-Redhead-Carrots.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2551,"url":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/?p=2551","url_meta":{"origin":2533,"position":2},"title":"Garden Update for June","date":"June 25, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"With all the trouble I had getting started this year I am so happy to see everything finally kicking in. Here is how the garden is doing. I pulled the shallots yesterday and hung them up to dry today. \u00a0They can be used right away but need to be cured\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Garden"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ridiculousredhead.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Ridiculous-redhead-shallots-6.23.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2369,"url":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/?p=2369","url_meta":{"origin":2533,"position":3},"title":"Late fall garden update","date":"November 12, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"We haven't checked in with the garden around here for awhile so I thought I would give you all an update. Today it was in the mid 60s and that seems to be the end of the nice weather. \u00a0Some gargantuan storm is coming in from Alaska and tomorrow starts\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Garden"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ridiculousredhead.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/ridiculous-redhead-gardening-opie.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2404,"url":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/?p=2404","url_meta":{"origin":2533,"position":4},"title":"It’s seed planting time again!","date":"February 6, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The holidays are over. \u00a0It's been snowing every other day for weeks. \u00a0The walls are starting to close in. \u00a0Summer seems so far away. But spring is not so very far away. February is one of my favorite times of the year. \u00a0After the fall clean up and the holidays,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Garden"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ridiculousredhead.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Veggie-Seeds-Ridiculous-Redhead-2015.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2956,"url":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/?p=2956","url_meta":{"origin":2533,"position":5},"title":"Summer is (almost) here and a video","date":"May 24, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"In NJ, summer starts on the Friday of Memorial Day Weekend.\u00a0 There are BBQs and beaches to go to. It's the best time of year. This time of year is also when the garden starts really kicking into high gear.\u00a0 Our spring was so so cold and rainy that every\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Garden"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ridiculousredhead.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Start-Growing-Now-Logo-jpg-cropped.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2533"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2533"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2533\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2542,"href":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2533\/revisions\/2542"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}