Don't forget the tulip bed, looking better each day.

Some assembly required.

Raised beds have arrived. 

Off to the races

Well we now have many a corn sprout, and the beans are pushing up too.  No signs of activity yet on the peppers, but it has only just been a week since I put seeds to soil.

Emergence Day!

The first tiny seedling of the year has emerged from the soil.

Well, here goes...

Finally got my hands dirty and started this year's seedlings.

As ever as soon as I finished I thought of a dozen things I wanted to do differently, but such is the way of things.  Hopefully next spring I can get a greenhouse built instead of starting these in my bedroom (to keep them away from little paws).

Harvesting the rain

Order placed for a new rain barrel.  Technically it is illegal in Lyndhurst, as they for whatever reason only allow up to a 55 gallon barrel.  So figure that one out.  I almost want to get sued for attempting to conserve water.

It links to the gutter thusly;

Taking Delivery

Supplies to start the seeds have arrived!

Will get things going this weekend, a bit late in the season to be sure, but oh well.

~Shipping Confirmation~

Alright, finally going to start growing things again after the two year break that came with moving and then being audited.

Orders have been placed for the seeds, a pair of raised planting beds, and seed starting supplies.












As in the past my two main vendors are Gardeners and Seedsofchange

The next task is to work out how many seedlings of each species to start, then after that I need to work out an actual layout for the yard.  I figure I will grab some garden stakes and twine, then construct replicas of what I want to have so I can actually visualize and walk around things.  As I am finding it oddly difficult to plan this stuff virtually, the irony of which is not lost on me.

Aside from the overall layout, I am trying to work out how to grow the vine crops, so pumpkins, squash and so forth.  I could cut beds directly in the ground, but my soil quality is poor, and the yard gets very swampy, both reasons I went for raised beds for the main crop growing project.  What I may do, is dedicate one of the raised beds to corn and vine crops, attempting to grow the vines around the base of the stalks.

Until things start arriving I will spend my time weeding the existing tulip bed as that has started to show signs of life again, but over the winter some undesirable plants have sprouted up amid the bulbs;

Hopefully my cigar smoking neighbor doesn't try to engage me in conversation too often when I am clearly busy gardening...

As ever all pictures taken will be posted up on Google Drive in the Gardening --> 2013 directory.  If you do not have access to this archive and would like it let me know.