More Planting in My Vegetable Garden
Fresh, organic produce will soon be growing in my vegetable garden.
Planting is in full swing here at the farm. My vegetable garden is looking excellent this season. We redesigned the garden beds and already planted many rows of wonderful and nutritious crops - some were started from seed in my greenhouse, and some seeds were planted directly into the soil. Most recently, my gardeners, Ryan and Wilmer, planted seeds for spinach, carrots, beets and cilantro.
Enjoy these photos. What vegetables are growing in your garden this year? Please share your comments below - I love reading all of them.
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- A couple of weeks ago, Ryan and Wilmer planted several beds of cruciferous vegetables. Cruciferous is the scientific name given to a group of vegetables including broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and kale. The plants are already showing some growth.
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- Now, Ryan is labeling wooden markers for some of our other crops, such as beets, carrots, and parsley. I am very fortunate to have the room to plant so many different vegetables.
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- Ryan uses this bed preparation rake from Johnny’s Selected Seeds to create furrows in the soil. Hard plastic tubes slide onto selected teeth of the rake to mark the rows. http://www.johnnyseeds.com/
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- It’s a cleverly designed tool for making multiple straight rows in one pass. The depth of the furrows depends on the amount of pressure placed on the rake as it moves through the soil.
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- Ryan goes over several beds, planning exactly where each crop will go.
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- The markers are placed at the ends of the assigned beds, so they can be seen from the main footpath.
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- Ryan sprinkles the seeds in the furrows and then gently backfills the rows with soil.
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- The seeds are very small – it’s hard to believe these tiny seeds produce such beautiful vegetables within weeks.
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- Then he goes over the bed with the back of a rake to ensure all the seeds are covered and the beds are tidy.
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- We always plant beets. Closely related to spinach and chard, and once called “blood turnips” because of their bright red juice, beets can be golden, white or striped. Beets are an excellent source of folate and a very good source of manganese, potassium and copper. Among them – ‘Red Ace’ organic beets are a big favorite – sweet and tender – they are usually ready a week before many others.
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- The carrots we are growing this season include ‘Mokum’, ‘Romance’, and ‘Rainbow’. ‘Mokum’ carrots have attractive, slender roots. They grow to about five to seven inches with short tops.
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- In this bed, we planted spinach seeds. Spinach contains vitamins A, E, K, and C plus calcium, iron magnesium and potassium.
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- Ryan planted this bed of ‘Vertissimo’ chervil seed with four rows, so even the farthest can be reached easily at harvest time.
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- Cilantro, Coriandrum sativum, is also known commonly as coriander or Chinese parsley. Coriander is actually the dried seed of cilantro. Cilantro is a popular microgreen garnish that complements meat, fish, poultry, noodle dishes and soups.
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- Again, Ryan goes over the bed with the back of the rake to smooth out the soil over all the seeds.
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- Our leeks were started from seed in the greenhouse. To produce succulent white stems, the leeks are planted into deeper trenches about six to eight inches deep.
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- Our parsley was also started from seed indoors. This parsley, Petroselinum crispum, includes an organic selection of curly and Italian heirloom flat leaf – both always grow well in my garden.
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- Here is our row of celery. This is ‘Tango’, a vigorous organic celery, with great flavor and more tender, less fibrous stalks.
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- Here is one of my dependable, gray Gilmour hoses set-up nearby. I also love the standing Gilmour sprinklers. http://www.gilmour.com/
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- I am so pleased with this season’s crops. We still have lots of room to plant more seeds in the coming weeks. I am already looking forward to the first harvest.
Martha Pins
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