Beans Are in the Ground

I kept at it, and I've got half the next planting bed mixed with soil amendments and planted.  I'll add a pic to this blog later when I go outside again...assuming I don't forget to do so.

I used a 2/1 ratio by volume of soil to compost, plus a small amount of glacial rock dust in each wheelbarrow load I mixed.  So far I've planted Orient Wonder (Vigna sesquipedalis) and White Half Runner (Phaseolus vulgaris).  This is the first time in my recollection I've ever planted Vigna this early here, but this variety is supposed to be cold-tolerant...so we'll see how this works. If it gets really hot in April, I could be thanking myself for doing it...Vigna loves hot weather.

Mixing soil isn't much fun, for sure.  It's tedious, repetitive work...but it does get results and I'm sold on the method.  I don't have a lot of stamina these days, so it takes me a long time to get a planting bed finished.  But the results have been outstanding, so in the end it's worth it.  I figure it takes me about a month to overhaul a bed between crops...of course I do other things during the process. Someone less impaired could probably do it all in a few days of work or less.

This is the first time my property has flooded in February, it's usually dry at this time of year.  So I'm glad I didn't try planting the low ground, where the soil is possibly better. It's customary to plant low ground in the "winter months" here...it's usually nicer weather to be outside and for commercial farmers it's the time of year when veggies are scarce and Florida fills the void with fresh string beans, strawberries, peppers, etc.

But this year all the rains we've had challenged the gardeners and the farmers alike.  I got away with things by gardening in containers that are raised off the ground and by utilizing the fill in front of the house where there used to be a front lawn.

I've been thinking of buying a roto-tiller and planting the low ground with crops like beans and sweet potatoes.  But it wouldn't have worked well this year, most of the property is all waterlogged. Maybe someday I'll try it, but for now I'll just focus on my little garden next to the house and my containers I've got set on concrete blocks in various places.

I'm open to suggestions and new ideas, always feel free to comment.

Trying to Keep Up

Been a while since I last posted.  I've been busy with a lot of things.

The bed of greens has really filled in...I've got all the greens I could want in the kitchen now...lots of nice soups from all that.  Last night I had a nice kale and bean soup.  By accidentally forgetting to turn off the gas under the pressure cooker, I found out that kale does soften up if you cook it longer.  Kale, kidney beans, onion, and whole wheat spaghetti pieces make a really fine soup.

That big-leafed plant is mustard, and the taller feathery leaves in the second pic are carrots. It's all one planting-bed, but I set it up in two stages. The carrots were a huge success...should have planted a lot more, I suppose.  I can see that the roots have formed fat carrots, probably the biggest ones I've ever grown.

I'm working on the next bed now, it's going to be all beans of various kinds.  The containers are still producing food...a few chili peppers, some eggplant, lots of Red Russian kale, tatsoi.  After I get the bed of beans planted, I'll go back to working with the containers.

We've only had the lightest frost so far, and it's only damaged plants that were well past their prime anyway.  The greens crops seem to have really taken off since the temps dropped.  Today was the first day in a week we hit 70 Fahrenheit.

It's hard to know what to plant...you have to think a few months ahead of today's weather when you're starting seeds.  But this time I guessed right...the unusually warm weather gave way to unusually cold weather and the greens loved it.

Gardening is always a gamble.