Suburban Vegetable Gardener

35 Lb Can of dried Green Peas. Sprout great using the jar method, tray method or by using a Sprout Sack. Nitrogen packed for long shelf life. Certified Organic.

Wow.  That was a fast summer.  I took a perm job back in April due to a long story that’s really boring anyway.  I was very grateful to get the job.  My garden suffered for it.  In the beginning, I chose only tomatoes, cucumbers and hot peppers.  I did plant corn in with the asparagus which was obviously dying anyway.  The corn got about 4′ high, and then died.  I have to point out the corn and the asparagus were planted in the ground.  So my best guess is that the soil is too dense with clay.

So then I lost the job end of November (short story…my company lost the contract and they said that they didn’t need an account manager if there was no account), and I spent time cleaning up my garden.

I had read that you should only use potting mix in your self watering containers for 3 years.  Now, part of me thinks that with compost, you should be able to refresh things, but I was annoyed and willing to dump out all the potting mix.  Most of the containers were filled with roots rather then the potting mix.  So perhaps it’s a good idea.

And my compost pile (heap?) was very appreciative.

Right now, the main area is empty since I’m holding off buying new potting mix just yet.  But for Christmas, I got a large gift certificate to Burpee.com and you better believe I’m going to try out some new stuff.  This year, I’m going to arrange the containers differently as well.  Last year, I had a dickens of a time getting between my rows to fill up the containers.  And I had a tough time getting to the tomatoes.

I also had more problems with flies & beetles sucking the life out of my precious tomatoes.  This year, they’ll be sorry.  Organic bug squash time!

I’m trying to remember last year at this time.  And that just reinforces the need to have a gardening journal so you can double check how things grew.  Some of the asparagus has popped up and are shooting out asparagus, but they’re not thick, and they feather out quickly.

But what’s really bothering me is that some that popped up last year haven’t yet!  And they’re still so tiny.  I did put down blood meal and worked it into the soil for a nice nitrogen boost.    At some point, I want to take my compost and smother it a bit on the whole bed.

And here I had grand dreams of asparagus soup this year.  I do worry that the soil is too heavy clay and that I should have amended it with sand for better drainage.

And that’s how it is sometimes with gardening…ever an adventure.

And it sure looks nice! I love their seed packets. I will sit there reading all of the information inside and out. Now their website has even more information on how and when to plant, how to nurture your plants and flowers, etc.
Check out the new Botanical Interests website!

Really quickly, I ran across this site:
ATTRA National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service It is a motherlode of information.

I’ve finished cleaning up the garden and got it about halfway planted. Asparagus is popping up. More details with pictures soon