Garden Friday

This Garden Friday finds the world a different place.
With routines severely disrupted,
the one place that can lend some much needed grounding
is the garden.
It's the first day of Spring 
and that means that growing season is here!

I got my initial garden plan completed 
using the Gardener's Supply free planner.
I've been using it for a couple of years now
to plan each individual bed,
but this is the first time I was able
to print out the entire garden plot.
In the upper left corner (not marked here), I will be planting
the first asparagus I've ever grown!
The crowns were collected yesterday from Extension
and I'm hoping to get them in the ground this weekend.
I also picked up some strawberry starts and will be 
planting them in straw bales.
The bed marked #9 in the lower right corner
is a pollinator bed.

In bed number four,
our Yukon Gold potatoes were planted.
These had been saved from last year's harvest,
and I was happy to see the growth when I took them out of their storage box.
For the last two years, I've grown these in chicken wire towers,
but this year I thought I'd try a raised bed.
One of the 3X8 beds sown with winter cover crops was chosen.

spuds ready for planting

The cover crops were whacked down with a string trimmer,
and the potatoes were planted about every 8 inches underneath the soil.
The shoots are telling me that they were ready!

Unfortunately, someone else was equally excited about this planting,
because every last one had been dug up.
That'll teach me to plant without covering the bed
with chicken wire.
Dang it!

The good news is that I had purchased a few Yukon Gold potatoes
recently at the hardware store, just in case I needed a few more.
Premonition?
They are drying out and I hope to get them planted in the next few days.

More good news!
The blueberries are coming back!
It's so thrilling to see them wake up from their long, winter slumber.
We have three varieties that we planted last year,
although there wasn't much fruit to be had.
Hopefully, this year will be a bit more successful.

Along with my sunflower sprouts growing in the kitchen,
I'm happy to be sowing again.
With plans to install our drip irrigation system this weekend,
it'll be a busy time.
What a time saver it will be to have the crops 
automatically watered.
All I'll need to do is keep sowing and watch them grow!

The next few months may be challenging for many,
and I am so grateful for the healthy distraction of growing food.
Now more than ever,
there is no end to the potential of a seed.

"Every problem has in it the seeds of its own solution.
If you don't have any problems, you don't get any seeds."
~Norman Vincent Peale