I turned most of my north most bed this weekend. I decided to dig it deep and throw some leaves in the bottom and then stack soil on top. I did about 2' on Friday and about 8' today before I wussed out and stopped. I wanted to keep moving today but not do too much since my half marathon is tomorrow. I decided to plant the first 4' of the bed today.
I planted some carrots, turnips, onions, beets in my community garden plot over spring break and I've seen a little action there but not much. I put turnips and kale in my bed at home over spring break, too, and I'm seeing some sprouts in there. My radishes are popping out really well and my peas finally decided this weekend they'd make an appearance. The potatoes are still waiting. I put straw on the potato bed so now I have oat grass popping up all over the place, too. Very annoying. It's easy to pull, though, and for now, it's keeping the dirt in place.
The bed I started on today will be anchored with cucumbers, peppers, and squash. I will stick some dill in there, too, but keep it away from the carrots. The first 2' of the bed (from the east) is dedicated to onions and carrots. I "divided" the bed width-wise into 3 parts and planted 3 types of onions and carrots in each part: 1) white onion sets and Blanche a Collet carrots (white); 2) yellow onion sets and Scarlet Nantes carrots; 3) red onion sets and 4-color mix (purple, atomic red, yellow, and white). On the front edge, I planted chives very thickly and put 20 or so pansy seeds (Swiss Giant and Black) in as well. Just for fun, I put 6 Red Acre Cabbage seeds somewhere in the middle of the 3 sections. It will be interesting to see how many come up.
I took a break because I was getting sunburned and tired. I've been pretty preoccupied with the race today. :) L and I went to eat and pick up my bib number for the race then came back to visit with his brother who drove up from Denver. The sky had clouded over a bit so I decided to head out and plant the other half of the 4' section.
I divided this into 2 imaginary sections width-wise as well. From east to west on the north side, I planted Seven Top Turnips (grown for greens) and Lacinato Kale with forest green curled parsley and flat-leafed parsley down the edge. On the south side, I planted Purple Top White Globe Turnip and Red Russian Kale with a Valentine Mesclun lettuce mix along the edge. Down the middle I planted Lisbon Onions (green onion). I filled 2 buckets with dirt and set them at the edge of the 4' as markers for the future location of cucumber plants. In between them I planted chamomile generously.
I would post a diagram but it's pretty busy given all the different types of plants. Perhaps I'll adjust the scale of the drawing and add it in later.
