We still have a lot of work until all trees have a new layer of hay or straw
Last year when we made hay but the rake was not adjusted right. Because of that our hay is extreme dusty. Therefore we will use this hay for the garden. We still have two rows of fruit trees to give a nice mulch layer around there feet, so we started with those. We rolled out a bale of hay right beside a row of fruit trees and gave these trees a nice thick layer of hay. We also gave the mulch around the trees and bushes we planted in the fall a nice fresh up. Lucky me, I had 3 small helpers.
We needed a new bale of hay for the second row of fruit trees. What was left of this bale, I used for the 3 hill beds from last year. Last fall we did 2 hill beds with hay and one hill bed with an entire bale of straw (See Post: Our late potato harvest). The strong winds blew the hay aside a little and the layer was in some places not thick enough any more. So here and there the grass grew trough the hay, but also the small left potatoes stuck up there heads here and there (the pictures are 3 weeks old). With the straw (at the right) that is not the case. The layer of straw is thick enough.
So I ripped out the grass and divided an extra layer of hay over the hill beds. After that my husband mowed around the hill beds and I divided also a thick layer of hay around the beds and at the fruit trees there. Since our move is postponed I want to plant pumpkins here and they grow long and in all directions, so it would be difficult to mow around. A big mulched surface is better for this. And the pumpkins stay cleaner this way. The bale of hay was used up and I finished around the hill beds with little square bales. This hay was still very good, but dusty hay. The colour was still fresh somewhat green. That is the difference in colour you can see on the pictures.
So happy to finish this so far. When there is some more time we need to freshen up the mulch around all of the trees and bushes we planted last fall, but for now we have to take care of the vegetable garden first.
4 weeks ago I sowed some seeds outside and covered them with straw to protect them from drying out and against the cold. (See the post sowing vegetables outside) Now I’ve carefully checked what it looks like under the straw. The result is not entirely satisfying.
I had already shown that the Romaine lettuce underneath the plastic cover came up. This grew on nicely. From the other 3 rows of a different lettuce hardly anything came up and the celery root did not come up at all. Now, when I took the pictures, we still have one week to the ice saints. Then I will take away the plastic cover, because I am afraid it will be to warm for the lettuce underneath the cover during the day. Of course the weeds also did well underneath the plastic cover and where now removed.
The sweet peas are doing well underneath the straw and are sticking there heads out above the straw already.
Other than that I am not very happy with the result, among other things because following seed did not come up at all:
Wilde Rocket
Onion red Robelja
Onion Rijnsburger 5/ Bajosta
Onion Cuisse de Poulet
Cauliflower Neckarperle
Kale Lerchenzungen
Oak leaf lettuce Red Salad Bowl
Obviously I should have known that the plantlets that did come up are long, thin and pale underneath the straw. These plantlets came up:
Red cabbage Rodynda
Palm cabbage Nero di Toscana
Broccoli Calinaro
White cabbage Dottenfelder Dauer
White cabbage Holsteiner Platter
Swede Wilhelmsburger
Oatroot (vegetable oyster)
Red cabbagePalm cabbage
Broccoli
White cabbageOat root
I do not really like the looks of this, but I will just wait and see what happens. Maybe once the plantlets get above the straw they will get better, otherwise I could just plant them a bit deeper once they are big enough to replant.
For the next year I very much would like to build a classic raised bed greenhouse, but I will probably also experiment with straw again. Only with a thinner layer. Other than that I will also have to have more patience and not sow so early, but wait until the ground has warmed up some more. Then the seed will probably come up better.
A week later I hat sow some more of which the radishes, dill and lemon balm already came up.
RadishesDillLemon balm
The onion sets and the garlic are coming up nicely, but there are no potatoes yet.
I had sown red beets and carrots between the rows of onion sets and the garlic. I had forgotten that carrots need light to sprout and I had covered everything under a nice thick layer of straw, because it would be protected against the cold. So with the carrots I did not find anything, but I found some small red beets.
Red beets
The first week of Mai has past and it is high time to sow the corn, pole beans and green beans. I have sowed 2 varieties of green beans (Sanguigno 2 und Brigit). Other than that I sowed corn and pole beans in half a bed with the short side facing south. The skin of the pole beans is very hard, so I should sand it a little to help the sprout. I preferred to soak the seeds in water and hope that will also do.
In the other half of the bed I sowed carrots and different varieties of lettuce. I hope that the carrots and mainly the lettuce will profit from the shade from the corn this summer. Here where we live that is necessary because the sun really burns and would damage the plants. I put a moderate layer of straw on the corn and the pole beans. With the carrots and the lettuce I did things differently. I put down a very thin layer of straw, hoping this will be enough to keep the soil from drying out. Then I just sowed the carrots and the lettuce over the straw and lightly wiggled the straw so the seed would fall further down. This way the sunlight still reaches the seeds. I hope this way the carrots and lettuce will do better, because we love eating carrots. But I will have to wait and see.
A thin layer of straw for the carrots and lettuce
Parallel I also pressed some soil blocks to sow in. I will put these in a somewhat protected spot and will have to water these regularly. This is nothing for the carrots, but for lettuce and onions it functions well. I also am going to use this for sowing some summer flowers, since I am not sure jet where I want these.
For a lot of crops it is time to start sowing, we still get frost at night while during the day the temperature rises to 15°C. The sun is already very powerful and starts warming up the soil. A few years ago we had made something like a very small foil tunnel to sow underneath, but I dedicated a whole plant bed as a seed bed. So the rest of the plant bed gets covered by straw (not to much). Straw isolates nicely and protects the upcoming sprouts from being eaten by the birds.
I started with the plastic cover. I marked the size of the cover and sowed small rows of the following:
Celery root Porthos
Romaine lettuce
Pick lettuce, different kinds (3 rows)
Then I put back the cover. I had a thermometer in the ground under the cover and the ground is there about 12°C.
Then I prepared rows over the entire bed and started sowing. I put a marker with the variety at the start of the row and sowed following:
Red cabbage Rodynda
Wilde Rocket
Sweet peas Heraut
Palm cabbage Nero di Toscana
Onion red Robelja
Onion Rijnsburger 5/ Bajosta
Onion Cuisse de Poulet
Broccoli Calinaro
White cabbage Dottenfelder Dauer
White cabbage Holsteiner Platter
Cauliflower Neckarperle
Swede Wilhelmsburger
Leek Herbstriesen 2/ Hannibal
Kale Lerchenzungen
Oatroot (vegetable oyster)
Oak leaf lettuce Red Salad Bowl
Partly I emptied the entire package on one row. Once the seedlings come up and have there first set of real leafs (not only the seed leaves) the small plants will be transplanted to another bed and planted with the needed spacing. The oatroot, of course, will not be transplanted, but will be thinned out as the plants grow to the spacing they need. The lettuce also stays in this bed, and I will pick these as they grow for baby leaf to make nice salads until they reach the needed spacing. After that I will pick only the outer leaves of the lettuce, so the plant will grow on.
The sweet peas where sown with a useful spacing, so these might stay in this bed. How ever the onions where sown very thickly, so I must be careful when I transplant them. We use a lot of onions, so I wanted to sow many extra (beside the onion sets I already put in the ground). I also want to use the green of these sowed onions in green salads during the spring and summer.
While selecting the varieties I did not pay enough attention to what could already be sown, so I sowed the kale to early. That was to start in Mai, but that is only 2 weeks from now, so I am positive that this won’t be a problem.
I am very excited that finally the growing season is starting again and I am looking forward to finally harvest some lettuce again. It always makes me so happy when everything is starting the turn green again.
Beautiful Chaos 