Tag Archives: vegetable garden

I hope everyone had a great Mother’s Day!  We had a lovely day and a fabulous dessert that I will be telling you about tomorrow.

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I was having trouble keeping my garden soil moist enough for my seeds to sprout.  Well, I did a little research and came up with something worth trying.

I was perusing our newest gardening book, The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible, and found the chapter on planting seeds.  It talked about keeping soil moist in dry climates, and suggested one may have to water two to three times per day!  Not going to happen!  But then there was a little sidebar about germinating carrots, which are apparently very sensitive to soil that doesn’t stay evenly moist.  The book suggested placing cardboard over the beds to keep the soil moist.  I thought, if it works for carrots, why not for other types of veggies as well?

Using rocks keeps the carboard in place even when it's windy

It appears to be working!  After a week of using the cardboard I have beet sprouts, a bunch of arugula sprouts, and a few chard sprouts.  I have also set up the drip system, which soaks the beds more deeply than the hose.  With the drip lines, I don’t even need to move the cardboard to water my beds.

Lessons learned for next year:

1. Set up the drip system right away!
2. Use cardboard until sprouts appear to keep the soil moist.

I got my potatoes planted today!  These are the varieties I planted:

• Yukon Gold – 4 plants
• Red Pontiac – 4 plants
• All Blue – 2 plants
• Russet – 2 plants

Cut and ready for "curing"

Last year I grew Red Pontiac and Yukon Gold and had great success.  I added in All Blue and Russet this year just for fun!

One problem I ran into last year is that I planted my potatoes way too deep and they took forever to appear at the surface.  Hopefully this year I planted them the right depth!

Ready to Plant

My husband has done some work on his section of the garden too:

Newly built beds

Yes, we have separate sections in our garden.  We are both into growing vegetables but have different ideas of what we’d like to grow and what techniques to use.  This way we each get to plant what we want, how we want!  We do share some of the work:  I will lay out the drip lines for both of us, and he will build me some structures for my beans and cucumbers.

The tulips under our tree are blooming!  This is the prettiest part of our yard and it only lasts for a week or so.  I love how the sunlight “lights” them up.

Tulips

On a final note, I have only had a few sprouts come up from all those seeds I planted a few weeks ago.  It is very difficult for me to keep the top few inches of soil moist enough for the seeds to germinate, even though I try to water every day.  I really need to get the drip lines set up and running – that would probably help.

Anyone have any advice on keeping the soil moist in a dry climate?

“I might plant some seeds today.”  My husband looks confused.  “In the literal sense.” “Oh…”

With the hot, dry summers we have here in Reno, growing cooler-weather vegetables like spinach or lettuce must be done in early Spring or Fall.  I have always wanted to try growing some of these cooler-weather veggies, but have not been on the ball early enough to get it done.  This year I finally managed to get some planted!

Here is what I did today:

I prepared the garden beds by amending them with:

Dr. Earth Organic 5™ Tomato, Vegetable & Herb Fertilizer 5-7-3
Master Nursery Bumper Crop (organic compost)
E.B. Stone Organics Soil Sulfur (to make the soil more acidic – we have very alkaline soil)

I planted quite a few seeds!

Arugula
Lettuce
Spinach
Beets
Parsnips
Swiss Chard

I will probably plant more arugula, spinach and lettuce in a few weeks to extend the crop.

The Freshly Planted Beds

I have purchased seed potatoes, but will wait to plant them in a few weeks.

I can’t wait to see some sprouts come up!  Anyone else getting some planting done?