In the midst of my big push towards graduating from seminary, today my wife and I were finally able to make some time to get our garden started for this year. We started gardening last year with one 4′x8′ raised bed and decided that this year we would double the size of our garden by adding another bed. We started after lunch with a trip to Lowe’s and Menards and by the end of the day I was achey, slightly sunburned, but super stoked about gardening this year. We got our new timbers put down, the soil turned, and new soil added, so that means it’s officially time to start planting! We ran out of time to get everything put in the ground to day, so today’s Friday5 is a list of what we have managed to get planted as of this evening.
1. Roma Tomatoes
We absolutely love Roma tomatoes. Last year we had four Roma plants and at one point wound up harvesting about 140 tomatoes over the course of three days. This year we decided to scale back to two Romas instead of four. Both of us really like the convenient size of Romas and the fact that they very rarely taste mealy. We started with two small potted Romas from Lowes.
2. Early Girl Tomatoes
Like the Romas, last year we also planted four Early Girls as well. Yes, you’ve done the math right: last year we had eight tomato plants crammed into a roughly 2′x8′ section of our little garden. Crowded didn’t even begin to describe it. This year we’re doing two Early Girls to go with our Romas. Last year’s Early Girls didn’t end up being all that early, the Romas actually were ready for harvest first, however we really liked the taste and size of the Early Girls so we’re trying them again this year. Our two Early Girls also came in the form of small pots from Lowes.
3. Sweet Green Bell Peppers
Between the 8 tomato plants and a hill of yellow squash that grew to over 4′ tall last year, our green peppers never really had a chance. This year we’ve got two sweet green bell pepper plants with a corner all to themselves, so hopefully we’ll get more than the 5 or 6 peppers we got all last year. Once again these were started from small plants from Lowes.
4. Poblano Peppers
This is the biggest experiment we’ve got going in our garden this year. I absolutely love Poblano peppers for using in chili, so the last time I cooked chili I made sure to save some Poblano seeds. I inadvertently touched my face after handling the seeds, resulting in a mild chemical burn, so hopefully this experiment will turn out to be worth all the trouble! I dried the seeds for a couple weeks and we’ve planted quite a few in the corner opposite the bell peppers, so we’ll be waiting anxiously to see if they sprout in the next couple weeks.
5. Mesclun Greens
As we went to begin preparing the soil for this year’s gardening we realized we had a handful of mesclun greens sprouts that must have been left over from last year. We carefully removed them before turning over the soil and I transplanted 9 or 10 of them back into the garden when we were done. We’ll see how they do. Hopefully this will mean our first garden salad of the year will come early this year!
Has anyone else started their garden yet this year? If so, what are have you planted? I’ll have to post again in the next few days once we get everything else in the ground.
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