19.3.11

Another Gardening Season Opens

The 2011 planting season is open!

After what seemed like the longest winter ever, I planted five rows of sugar snap peas in the kitchen garden:  Burpee variety Super Snappy with an edible pod.  65 days to harvest.  This seed is tolerant to powdery mildew and needs no support.  Around here, the date to get peas in is St. Patrick's Day.  I have never managed to get the peas in that early for one reason or another.  Today, everything was perfect for working the ground and sowing.  The soil was cool and slightly damp, not clumpy.  The weather mild and sunny. After sowing, I sprinkled some inoculation granules next to the rows to boost production.  What with an early start, and a booster, these just might be super Super Snappy peas!  

The three 3'x6' raised planter beds I ordered from Gardener's Supply arrived late last week.  I'll be putting them together in the next day or so.  Once together and in place, soil will need to be mixed and added to the beds.  The mixture is part potting soil, compost, peat moss, and vermiculite.  The plants that will go into these beds are being grown as starts.  Before planting the peas, I made up two trays of seeds containing Burpee's Super Beefsteak Tomato, Sugar Snack Hybrid (a red cherry) Tomato, Great Stuff Green Pepper, Red Delicious Hybrid Pepper, Sweet Banana (yellow) Pepper, Gold Standard Hybrid (yellow) Pepper, Earliana Cabbage, Breakfast Longkeeper Cantaloupe, Crimson Sweet Watermelon, Sweet Basil, Sage and Alyssum.

Once the tomato and pepper seed starts get bigger, they will be transferred to larger pots.  Uncle Keaks will be losing his bottom rung in a couple of weeks.

Uncle Keaks relaxes on the bottom shelf....for now :)

The southern exposure is a kitty-cat favorite
which they reluctantly have to share
with the seed starts!

Peat pots retain moisture and decompose when planted.
A clear plastic greenhouse dome goes over top of each tray,
creating a humid environment for germination.

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