Oh the start of the gardening season. How I love this time of year. Planning what we are going to grow, picking out our seeds and plants, the fresh spring air. It is all wonderful. After a long winter, it is exciting to be able to get back into the garden.
We have our plot at the community garden again this year. We finally got to go back into our plots and began cleaning out the garden around the 23rd of May. We had a lot of weeds to pick. We worked up our entire plot by hand. It was hard work as the dirt was very hard. In retrospect, I should have rented a rottotiller which would speed working up the dirt, so it would be easier to plant in, but with all the quack grass and wild oats, it was best to go by hand.
The small garden box was easy to clean up. We got it done quickly and planted the potatoes.
It did take us a couple afternoons to completely clean out our large garden plot. It was lots of work but very rewarding. It was frustrating just how hard the ground was from the winter. It made me think what the pioneers had to do — work up solid ground with implements pulled by the horse and tools by hand. They must have been quite strong. My daughters and I kept at it so we could begin planting.
We planted the onions and shallots at this end of the plot, different from last year. It is important to rotate crops. We just started with a few onions this summer, as in years past, we have not had much success with onions. This will not be enough for all winter as we go through a lot of onions, but we can enjoy the greens all summer long and the onions in the fall. If you are curious as to how much to plant per person, check out our post that tells you all about it here: http://www.ourcityhomestead.com/planting-our-city-garden
We also decided to plant a rhubarb plant here along with strawberries.
We planted mint as well. I love mint, especially in water with a squeeze of lime on a hot summer’s day.
Here’s the strawberries, rhubarb, mint and cilantro.
The whole garden is worked up and we have started to plant our rows.
May has been quite chilly, so we could not get into the garden earlier like we had hoped. I am most definitely looking forward to gardening this summer!! There is nothing like homegrown veggies.
We planted onions, shallots, dill, parsley, basil, beans, an assortment of lettuce, rhubarb, strawberries, cilantro, zucchini and patty pan squash as well as cucumbers. We have a few tomato plants at home to tend to also.
To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.
– Audrey Hepburn
This year we are part of community relations for our community garden. We are in charge of garden goodies again this year, leaving a little something for our fellow gardeners. We have done this the last couple years and it has been so much fun!! For May, we decided to leave something that would be useful — a kneeling pad! There is nothing worse than having to kneel in dirt to pick weeds or tend to a plant!
Did you plant your garden in May? We’d love to hear all about it!
enjoy from Our City Homestead to yours