Spring Planting

Today I got out in the garden and planted my Red Bliss and Yukon Gold potatoes. I also put out carrot and lettuce seeds. The key with the potatoes was to trench out both 8 foot sides of the Partial Sun garden. I then put on the potato seed pieces. The Red Bliss were leftovers from a 5 pound bag that I didn't use before they started sprouted and had some really nice sprouts on them before I put them in the ground. I purchased the Yukon Gold in bulk from NorthHaven Gardens. I love their selection of vegetables and fruit seeds and plants! I then mixed a bit of my compost/sphagnum peat moss mix with some pine bark mulch (at the suggestion of a NHG employee) and put a thin layer over the potatoes. I left the trenches fairly low and plan to start filling them in once the potato plants start growing. Paul James suggests at each 8 inch growth, cover up 4 inches of the plant. I put the extra dirt in the original peat moss bags in the garage until the plants start growing.

For the center part of the same garden, I put down carrot seeds on the outer two areas of the remaining garden. The center will be left fallow until time to plant my tomatoes. I sprinkled the seeds on the top of the garden soil and then took some of the compost/peat moss mixture and sprinkled on top of the seeds and lightly watered them.

The last planting was the lettuce seeds that I planted in the left full sun garden. I planted mesculen mix and green lef lettuce. I put the same seeds out in the same manner as the carrot seeds after having to rake the dirt a bit.

I hope that this is a good season for the carrots. Last year I did it all wrong and planted the seeds under about 1/4 inch of soil. I only ever got 3 baby carrots.

I need to make sure that I get on a regular watering schedule so that these properly sprout along with the leeks, shalllots, parsley, basil, oregano, and fennel that I planted on Tuesday.