The Modern Victory Garden

I have been working on a variety of garden related odds and ends lately, none of which individually is all that interesting or noteworthy - but I thought I would just give you a run down of what I have been up to the past week or so.     

One of my projects this year was to move the blueberries out of the large containers on the deck and into a permanent bed in the garden.   They grew well there last year but the birds were getting more of the harvest than I was willing to give up and the bushes were obviously outgrowing the pots.   I had previously emptied out the two beds I wanted to use for this purpose and before I transplanted the bushes, I added more compost, some garden sulfur, and did an aeration of the bed.   In the planting holes I added some good organic broad spectrum fertilizer and even more compost.   I then planted up the four bushes into their new home and covered them with hoops and some bird netting.        

It was time to get these planted because they are getting significant bud swell and look like they will be leafing out very soon.   I am planning to plant a few more cranberry plants at their feet to grow as a ground cover beneath them.   The cranberry starts have been ordered and will likely arrive in the next few weeks.          

I have the cross fencing project we are doing this spring as well.   I had the fencing contractor out last Friday to go over the details and provide the estimate for me.   Same folks that installed our current fencing that surrounds the entire back portion of our property.   This project is a fairly short run of 5 ft tall chain link fence with a couple of 4 ft wide walk gates for easy access, that separate the garden from the rest of the back lot area.   The cost estimate came in lower than I was planning on (which was a pleasant surprise) so the work order was approved and submitted right away and I am now just awaiting work to be scheduled.         

The seedlings are all doing well.   Last weekend, I repotted the first group of super early started tomato plants into large containers.   I was extra careful with the tender seedlings and it looks like I managed not to kill any of them in the process.   Sometimes potting up young tomato plants can result in a fair amount of losses.   I have another group that will probably be ready for their first potting up this coming weekend.   I need to move some of the more cold hardy seedlings out to the greenhouse soon to make room for them and for some additional trays of seeds yet to be started.   I think the weather is finally going to start cooperating with me soon (thankfully!).   The past two weeks we have had some snow, bitter cold, hail, heavy rains, and high winds and I have kept everything under wraps as a result.   However, the longer term forecast show a return to more normal daytime highs for this time of year and I plan to use the opportunity to move more plants out to the protection of the greenhouse.               

The current greens growing in the greenhouse are really waking up this past week.   The increased day length and sun strength is starting to have an impact.   Yesterday I harvested a nice bit of mixed greens to make salads for our dinner.   There was a bit of swiss chard, lettuce, spinach, kale, chinese cabbage, and some mache.            

I heard some songbirds this morning as I was leaving the house to go to work.   Yet, another good sign that spring is finally about to make an appearance!  

Laura

kitsapfreedomgardener