All the Volunteers I Can Get

My new compost bin!


What a glorious weekend. The sun and breeze cooperated with me and I was able to accomplish a lot. Last week I was just about ready to throw in the towel and decide to go to the farmers’ market instead of doing my own garden. The hail and rain and treacherous wind seemed like it would never end.





Volunteer Tomato



I was surprised to see that half of my garden was already planted for me. I had over 20 volunteer tomatoes and probably about the same amount of tomatillos. The hairy vetch came in and did its job while I was missing in action. Sadly, the weeds did their job too.

 To start off the day in a positive fashion, I installed a new compost holding bin by upcycling pallets. Fortunately someone abandoned some in the garage of my office building and I was granted new ownership. All that you need are three pallets and six t-posts. I also used two screws for a little added support. Voila! I have a new bin and I think it’s pretty cool. My dad has been juicing so he had a lot of carrot pulp to contribute to the pile. By the end of the day I had a lot of green stuff so I added a bit of dry hay to the mix. I’m going to be better about this composting stuff this year.

Weeding was another story but I got it done. I saw one weed that I’ve never seen before and that is pretty amazing because as you know from my Demeter 101 post, I spent a lot of time out playing in the weeds. This weed was quite beautiful and reminded me of something you’d see near the water’s edge. If you can identify it, I’d love to know what it is.

Once the weeding was finished, I started planting my volunteers in appropriate places. The sole purpose and plan for the hairy vetch was for the tomatoes. Tomatoes love vetch – the hairy vetch adds nitrogen and acts as a mulch for the soil. You can review my previous post for more information on that. I simply ripped the vetch down to a workable length as the vetch is probably five feet tall if you straighten the vines out. Then I stomped them down flat and pulled back 20 circular areas to dig holes in. Once those where ready, I searched around in the garden for my volunteer tomato plants. I have no idea what varieties I’ll end up with but I’m up for a surprise. I’m going to start a few seeds and buy a couple hybrids as well in case all of the volunteers are cherry tomatoes.

   

Hairy Vetch before pulling and trampling.




20 newly planted tomatoes.

 

One little tomato volunteer in his new home.

 


Tomatillos

Tomatillos were transplanted as well. They look really sad in this picture but I’m hopeful they’ll perk up.
 

Three rows of potatoes and one row of sweet potatoes.

 The potatoes and a few sweet potatoes also found their new homes. I took a cue from where some volunteer potatoes were growing and made a few rows of my own.


Ladybugs love my fava beans!


The fava beans look great. They have a zillion aphids on them but there were plenty of ladybugs working on them. From this picture, I spy with my little eye 10 ladybugs and one fava bean!



Beets! They were horribly tough becuase the bolted but they make a nice picture.



Garlic with artichokes to the right.



Pretty little hairy vetch flower.



Blueberries

Freshly weeded area ready for my new seeds and starts.

I’m wondering how everyone else’s gardens are doing. It’s a little early (at least for me) as I’m a late planter but I know some folk are gung-ho in April.

 

Seed and starts planting will continue next weekend. I can’t wait!

Hope everyone is doing well! Welcome to spring!

Daphne