Don't Throw Out That Wheelbarrow! Grow In It!

Last year,our wheelbarrow had broken handles,so we put new ones on,and gave it a new coat of paint. This year,we discovered holes in the bottom. Rick wanted a bigger wheelbarrow,anyway,so we purchased one that holds a greater capacity,mainly,for hauling wood,rocks,etc. This was before we bought the tractor,but now one person can haul with the tractor and another can use the wheelbarrow.

But,what do we do with the old one? Make a planter,of course!

I filled it with left over compost mix that we used for the garden,and planted a few more Green Ice and Little Caesar lettuce,as well as Salad Fresh and Bloomsdale Long Standing Spinach. One good thing about having it in the wheelbarrow is I can put it in an area that doesn't get full blown sun all day long.It should look nice when it's full of greens!! So...don't throw out that old wheelbarrow....grow in it!

Our Garden

I am beat. I just finished planting the garden. It took four hours all told. I did get some done yesterday,but only had time to plant tomatoes and green peppers. Combining the mix and filling the boxes took longer than I thought it would,but of course,it would've taken much longer if we didn't use the tractor. All told, we mixed 4 yards of compost,28.5 cubic feet of peat moss,and 48 dry quarts of vermiculite (the vermiculite only came in small 8 dry qt bags,and at $7.00 a pop,we didn't get as much as we probably should have).

Today I was out planting at 10:30 and just got in at 2:35.  All told,this is what I planted:
 Corn-116
Lettuce-64
Potatoes-48 white,my Pontiac Reds have been shipped and I will plant 48 of those
Green Beans-72
Peas-24
Onions-256 (red and white combined)
Summer Squash-2
Zucchini-2 (summer and zucchini are both very proficient and with two apiece last year it was more than enough)
Spinach-48*
Radishes-96*
Beets-72*
Broccoli-9*
Cukes-22 (still have 10 in the basement that I had to restart,so I should be able to plant those outside soon)
Tomatoes-12
Green Peppers-5 (I did start 8,but three pooped out on me and it's too late to start them now)
Carrots-48 ( am staggering the planting on these,in all we should have 192)

*starred veggies are new for us this year

I am going to plant Butternut squash as a fall crop and will continue the broccoli into fall as well.

We were lucky that we did not have to buy more lumber to make the extra boxes. Our neighbor Kelly had plenty of lumber on hand. We did put weed block on the bottom of all the boxes again.

Phew!!! At least that's done!!! It was a good day to be outside,it's cool and the wind is blowing,so the bugs have been kept at bay.Rick has been moving our compost pile back further into the tree line. There was a good bit of steam coming up when he moved it,so that is a good sign. Brother B has been working hard getting all our wood re stacked under the wood shelter. No idle hands here!!!

Our little turkey hen who has been visiting us apparently found our garden boxes. I found some prints and poop in our carrot box.

Today Is The Day!

That's right,today is the day....I finally get to plant the garden! The garden area has been filled and levelled,the boxes made,the compost delivered,peat moss and vermiculite bought. The boys are going to mix it all up and fill the boxes. I will then FINALLY plant the garden.

At least I am not alone. Last night at Garden Roundtable many are far behind,although it seems like most are a bit further along than I am.

The boxes:
4x8 double height-corn
4x4-peas and beets
4x4-cukes and radishes
4x4-cukes and green peppers
4x6 double height-red and white potatoes
4x4-tomatoes
4x4-broccoli
4x4-onions
4x4-green beans and spinach(two varieties)
4x4-lettuce (two varieties)
4x4-double height -carrots
4x4-various squash

In my herb box (4x4) right now I have spearmint,Greek Oregano,and thyme. I planted dill,more oregano,and basil.

In my strawberry box (4x4) the strawberries are growing nicely,still getting more little green plants pushing up daily,and some are nice and long,with blossoms.I found one little itty bitty green strawberry yesterday.

I will take photos of the area today and post them tomorrow. Right now we are still trying to decide what to put down around the boxes. Wood chips again?Mulch? Or perhaps some form of gravel? It's all dirt right now.

I am rubbing my hands gleefully together in anticipation! The weather here today is much drier and cooler than yesterday. In fact, we had tornado watches here in New England. There was a report of a touch down in Jefferson,which is up north,but folks in the Springfield area of MA got hit with two tornadoes,which also travelled a bit across the state. It was a super cell that we very rarely see in these parts,you normally see it in Tornado Country in the Midwest. Four people are confirmed dead and there is alot of damage.  We are keeping our MA neighbors in our thoughts today.