Welcome to the 2021 gardening season!! We have our garden plot once again in the community garden and we are ready to plant a variety of vegetables to enjoy this summer as well as to preserve for the upcoming winter. We are so excited to get back gardening — it really is therapeutic and wonderful to see all the hard work pay off!
The weather has been cooperating and has been beautiful out, so it is the perfect time to get into the garden! We mainly planted root vegetables so if we experienced any frost in the upcoming weeks, it would not harm it. Lettuce, spinach and herbs will be planted in a couple of weeks, when there’s a much less risk of frost.
Let’s get started!
First, after we weeded the garden and raked the dirt all nice, we decided to plant the potatoes at the far end like last year. Our garden plots were moved to a different area and we have different dirt in the garden boxes this year so we do not have to worry about not planting the same vegetables in the same spots again. Typically, if you planted potatoes in one spot, you do not want to plant them there again because there will be nutrients missing from the previous year’s crop, but by planting a different vegetable like carrots there, different nutrients will be used, while at the same time certain nutrients will be replaced. When I was a kid, my grampa often talked about “summer follow” in the fields which gave the field a rest from growing a particular crop, and gardening really is not much different. Planting different crops in different spots will allow them to replace some nutrients while using up different nutrients.
Here, we have planted a variety of potatoes like norland potatoes, yukon gold, red pontiac, red apple, and red thumb (which is a purple potato). We dig a slight hole, fairly close to the top, place the potato in and then hill them.
Next to the potatoes, we planted beans, beets and then carrots. At the opposite end, we planted a variety of onions like red onion, multiplier onions, spring onions, and yellow onion. We love adding green onion to everything, so I was sure to plant a lot of multiplier onions and spring onions, while the red onion and yellow onions will get their tops stomped down later so the onion underneath can grow. We will plant lettuce, spinach, and dill in the next couple weeks.
In our “small” plot we planted cucumber, patty pans and zucchini. Last year we planted onions in this plot which did not do well, but the zucchini did wonderfully! The large leaves and vines can drape over, it drains well and is so easy to pick the squash! I am looking forward to an abundance of squash this year!
So far, that is our garden! We picked the weeds, planted our seeds and bulbs and are excited to tend to the garden this summer!
Planting gardens in the 1800’s and times before were essential. They needed what they grew and foraged to eat not only during the summer months, but also to have for the winter when food was much more scarce, especially in the cold, snowy regions. They did not have easy access to grocery stores and refrigeration and freezing like we do today. Gardening today is as much as a necessity as it once was and is something we can do to help provide for ourselves, even if it is only for a season!
If you are curious how much to plant, check out our post here: https://www.ourcityhomestead.com/planting-our-city-garden/
Share with us what you’re planting in your garden this year! We love to see everyone’s gardens!
enjoy from Our City Homestead to yours