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Enlarging the garden!
I put in a brand new garden last year. Virgin topsoil. The old one in the back bordered the farm field that used to be there. 2004 Parade of Homes took its place. Yecchhh!
So I put in a roughly 20 x 30 foot garden in the front yard. With all the new McMansions around here I wanted to retain some rural flavor...and to heck with what the new McMansion owners think.
Enlarging this year to add more corn. Had 3 x 20 ft. rows and want 5 or 6. This year I'll stagger the planting weekly so I have fresh sweet corn every week for a couple of months!
Overdid the zucchini last year, will cut way back. More butternut and acorn squash. Cukes did well, will just thin them earlier.
Will repeat exactly the green beans, sweet peas, radishes, onions and beets. A couple more green pepper plants, though we still have some in the freezer. The wife wants a few more carrots, doc. The spinach and lettuce were fantastic, and I'd like more of those. We had fresh salads for months.
Our one big disappointment was potatoes, only because we didn't give them enough room...they got crowded by the zucchini (sp?).
Got to do a more with pumpkins! We planted 'Prizewinner'. Only got three but they were about 70, 80 and 150 pounders!
The wife says just two jalepeno plants, half of last year because we got sooooo many. I'm planting four again; can't count on such bounty from a few plants all the time.
So, basically more room for corn, potatoes, and pumpkins. So if I make the garden 4 feet wider and 4 feet longer, 24 x 34 we get 816 square feet, a full 216 square feet - or one third - larger than the 600 square feet we have. Should be plenty.
Only damage last year was a few ears of corn the deer got, and a few some snail-like slug got. Two flats of geraniums made a nice border on the long, 30 ft side toward the house. They say they help protect from rabits and we were lucky that way despite lots of bunnies in the neighborhood. Will do that again.
It was a little tough to garden without stopping to talk to passersby, on foot or in their car. They'd stop to ask if I minded midnite picking. I told them no, if they didn't mind midnite target shooting.
The wife has a separate patch in back and a couple of containers for herbs. I'd love to splurge on a strawberry hill elsewhere in the yard. Wife doesn't. She picks them at a farm every year.
I got about a hundred trees planted last year, and about a hundred shrubs. Maybe 80 trees and only 20 shrubs made it. Now lets see if the catalog nursery honors their guarantee. Hardly any of the ground cover made it. Got delivered on a 95 degree day and was mostly dead when it got here. Keeping my fingers crossed that they'll replace it like they said they would.
Your suggestions welcome. Good luck with your gardens everyone! Enjoy the Spring/Summer dreams ~ may they keep you warm.
Regards,
Keith
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