Grow Garden Grow

We are a month and three days in and getting some good growth.  We have been putting dipel dust down like crazy to try and ward off cabbage worms.  If you have never used dipel dust we strongly recommend it for cabbage, broccoli, and brussel sprouts.  Dipel dust should be a staple in every gardeners storage shed!  

Take a look at how things were doing on April 2nd, 2012....

1.1 - Red Potatoes

Potatoes worried us at first, but they have come up now and been covered once. 

1.2 - Close up of potatoes

Onions and Carrots 

(Onions on left and right; Carrots down the middle) 

                        1.3                                                                                         1.4 

1.5 - Artsy Onions 

Looks like the Dipel Dust did the trick......

1.6 - Broccoli, Lettuce, Spinach, and Brussel Sprouts

(from left to right)

1.7 - Spinach

1.8 - Spinach is looking bountiful!

1.9 - Onions, Carrots, Cabbage, Broccoli, Lettuce, Spinach, Brussel Sprouts, and Strawberris

(from left to right)

1.10 - Strawberries

1.11 - Early Jersey Wakefield Cabbage

1.12 - Much improved after the chemical warfare!

Chemical Warfare and Nature's Fight Back

Clearly I'm not cut out to be a professional blogger.  I had wanted to update weekly, but have fallen behind for various reasons. One reason though was an insane amount of yard work this past weekend.  I think me and Miranda did near nine hours straight on Sunday.  Dreams of a TV yard.  Funds of a yard sale yard.

We have been getting killed by the cabbage looper for nearly two weeks.  I have been trying to get a moment to put the Dipel Dust down, but it has been a bit too rainy.  As you can see, the cabbage worm hit us pretty hard.

Eleven days ago (3/26), I dusted the plants with the Dipel Dust.  It worked wonders.  As you can see these plants were a cabbage looper clan's buffet.  Things are looking much better.

We have had a remarkably warm winter and spring this year.  We have had several days in the 80s and weeks of consistent sunny and 70s.  A day after dusting, we got a frost scare.  It did not turn out as frosty as the weathermen suggested.  But we had to prepare.  I did a last minute cover job.  I covered the strawberries with a large sheet of plastic and the potatoes, unnecessarily,  with a makeshift combination of Tupperware, sand toys, and a wheel-barrel.  It didn't frost really.  Better safe than sorry though.

Weeded and Fertilized

We put down our first round of 10-10-10 this past week.  We have had some pretty heavy rains over the past two days, which should set the fertilizer off.  Today, we got out there and ran the big tiller and the Mantis down the rows.  We weeded each row thoroughly.  Things are looking good so far.  I am waiting for the rain to move out to put down the dipel dust for the cabbage worms.

3/25/2012 

Potatoes
(planted 2/26/2012: 4 weeks) 

Onions (left and right)
Carrots (between onions)
(3 1/2 weeks)

Left Row (onions and carrots)
Middle Row (Broccoli)
Right Row (spinach)
(3 1/2 weeks) 

Broccoli
(3 1/2 weeks)

Cabbage
(3 1/2 weeks)

Carrots
(3 1/2 weeks)

Spinach
(3 1/2 weeks)

Brussel Sprouts
(3 1/2 weeks)

Strawberry
(3 1/2 weeks)

Strawberry 2
(3 1/2 weeks)

Genocide

Today was one of those days where your back aches.  I waged worm genocide today.  Leaf by leaf, I sifted through 40 cabbage, 24 brussel sprout, and 16 broccoli plants crushing every cabbage worm possible.  I'm sure a few escaped my wrath, but I was the stronger species today.  They may be a more persistent being, but I have technology on my side.  It is supposed to rain today and tomorrow, but once that has passed, I will unleash the chemical phase of my genocidal campaign.  Dipel dust will eradicate these succubi.  Well I was going for succubises (suck-u-bis-es), but I like succubi:

suc·cu·bus   [suhk-yuh-buhs]  Show IPA
noun, plural -bi  [-bahy]  Show IPA.
1.a demon in female form, said to have sexual intercourse with men in their sleep. Compare incubus ( def. 1 ) .
2.any demon or evil spirit.
3.a strumpet or prostitute.

Slow Growing

Well it's been a cold, rainy two weeks since we planted our early crops.  We have gotten some warmer days in the high 50s and low 60s since this past weekend.  More rain and mostly overcast still throughout this period.  The cabbage, broccoli, and brussel sprouts seem to be stagnant.  They are actually looking a bit unhealthy.

Lettuce

Onions

Strawberries

First Big Plant

So I've been holding back on the pics to try and make this a more step-by-step process.  I should just let it fly and get the stuff up here.  We got all of this stuff in on leap day, February 29th, 2012.  We planted 40 cabbage, 24 brussel spouts, 16 broccoli, 12 strawberry (4 I planted today), 3/4 row of spinach, and 1/4 row of lettuce.  I mentioned the carrots, onions, and potatoes in my last post, I hope.  25 potato plants, 1/2 pd. onions, oz of carrot seed.

Cabbage

That would be my homemade compost bin in the background.  Zero dollars. That's frugal.

Left to Right: 
Strawberries, Brussel Sprouts, Lettuce (seed), Broccoli, Cabbage

Strawberries: First time experiment

Strawberry

Umm, quit looking at my crack.

Not sure what this strange cracking in the soil is.  We have had a lot of rain.  Not sure if this is disconcerting.   I'm a little worried that this is some sort of pest.  We have had a remarkably warm winter.  They are going to be a problem this year for sure.

Leap Rows and Sowing Seeds: 2/29

I have procrastinated on posting these pictures and updating the progress of the garden.  All the rows have been cut, mounds have been built, and the early crops have been planted.

 We have gone with several wide rows (18in) to try to maximize the amount of crops that can be planted.  We did this on the rows that hold cabbage, carrots, onions, and beans. 

Wide rows on left side of garden, rows 1 and 3.  What looks to be row 2 is actually a prepped dirt mound to cover potatoes as they grow.

Miranda sowing carrot seeds.  We planted onions right afterwards on both sides of the row.  So it goes onions, carrots, onions.

The indention in the two above pics is a trick I picked up on the net from this hippie, organic gardener.  I took an old handle to a shovel or some tool from years ago and pushed it down into the soil, making a trench to sow the seeds.  Then you just cover them up.  Done in a jiffy.