Day 7

I'm still doing my morning watering routine and I so far have 6 green onions from the sets and 5 from the kitchen transplants up as well. One of my shallow onions has the green peeking out too. I'm hoping to have some more results this weekend from my lettuce, cowpeas, spinach and peas.
I transplanted our asparagus from our old home at the corner of my house on Day 1 as well. I've seen no action from it yet. There was a chute that I completely burried. I was hoping to see life from them by now too. I hope they take because I LOVE asparagus.
Today I planted forget-me-nots in a large planter and also basil in 2 little flower pots. I have another 2 pots that each hold about 2 gallons and I planted dill in one of them and parsley in another. I may get a few more pots for rosemary and thyme. I just read that garlic is easy to grow, so I may grab some of that too. My hubby wants strawberries and I thought of putting them out front in my flower beds, but as this is our first spring at this home, I want to wait and see what comes up. I know that there are mums and roses which are some of my favorite flowers, so I'll look into the flower bed revamping next fall. We have tulips behind our privacy fence in the back yard that I can't see unless I'm in the alley. They are coming to the front too.
Happy Weekending!

First Sprout

I was a bit surprised to see a little onion spout this morning when I watered.  When I planted, I did a pattern of 1 shallow then 3 deep so that I can use the deep for green onions.  I always plant yellow onions because I like their sweeter taste.
It was a happy morning.  You can see my shallow planting in the pic as well.

Day 4

No new planting yet. I've been watering every morning. It has been beautiful outside and I love hearing the birds sing while I spend time in the sun. My seeds are likely transforming inside right now and I can't wait to see results. I think my earliest sprouts should come around Saturday. So far all of the sprouts from my kitchen window of celery and onion are still standing and green, too.
The more exciting posts are still to come, but good things come to those who wait. Patience is key in the sport of gardening.
I guess I should clarify exciting... not that I will have an intriguing novel, but to those who love to see the results of their labor(me), the reports will be exciting.
My son was getting wild with the patting of the soil after putting seeds in and I told him to calm down. I said that we were not doing an exciting game. He asked, "So is gardening supposed to be boring?" Well, I suppose it is boring to some, but rather than describing it as boring or exciting work, I told him it was a relaxing type of work for me and he was just keeping me from being relaxed. :)

Day 2

This afternoon I had 2 helpers with the planting but my 6 year old didn't last long.  I planted 2 more rows according to seed pack directions.
In row 2, the East 1/3 is spinach and the same is true for row 3.  Then I planted black-eyed peas or purple cowpeas for the next 2/3 except I put 2 Chile peppers at the west end of that row.  The west end of row 3 is the same.  And between the peppers and spinach is lettuce in the 3rd row. 
Against our white picket fence, I planted peas for about 2 feet.  I'm saving the rest of the fence for climbing green beans.  I may regret the decision to let plants climb my fence.  We'll see.I'm saving space between the row ends and the fence for pumpkins, but they won't go in until the end of May, first of June.
I still plan to plant green beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, and zucchini as well.

I am anxious to see it grow.

This picture is taken from the opposite end as day 1. The potatoes are to the far right and the next two rows start with spinach. Lettuce was hard to plant because the seeds are so tiny it was hard to just drop in one at a time.

2012 first planting day

I'm thrilled to get started on my garden.  I may be late according to some or early compared to others.  I guess that makes us just right.
We (I) wanted to keep the back yard for playing so I chose to put my garden in our North side yard.  After the tilling, I realize that space is much larger than I expected.  Our previous home only had a couple of small raised box garden beds due to lack of space. 
Today's task was to prepare the ground and plant potatoes and onions.  Since we had to let the first turning of the soil dry out a bit, the rotatilling didn't get done until after 5pm.  I planted 1 sweet potato plant and about a dozen potato plants.  I planted in a trench so there will be room to bury the stems as they get taller. 
In the same row I planted onions and green onions.  I put sticks on either end of where I wanted to plant and stretched a string between them to keep my row fairly straight.  I adapted my method from last year's research.  I used onion sets and planted them crowded together in a row.  1 shallow then 3 deep the 1 shallow and 3 deep and so on for my pattern.  The thought behind that is to have 3 green onions for every 1 large onion.  As I thin out the green onions, it will make room for the onions to grow.  The shallow that will grow are spaced about 5 inches apart.

The pic shows my first row just before watering.  At the near end is the celery that I have been growing on my counter from the base of a store-bought stalk.  Also I have a few green onions that I was growing from roots of a bunch that I had bought from the grocery store and eaten.  They were our kitchen window experiments.
That's all for today.