Thursday, August 13, 2026

Recent VEGarden Posts
16 May 2006
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The new garden in the front!

This took some work. Lawn soil is very, very compacted. We tilled peat moss, organic top soil (because I dug it all up with the grass), and manure into the area, and then I made the beds all by myself. They are wider than the beds in the back, and I hope they will work well for vegetables! My great aunt has been receiving packages of carrot seeds in the mail from one of those organizations that fight hunger in impoverished lands. She has been sending the carrot seeds to me, so we planted them in the back yesterday. I think she has finally started returning the carrots and telling them to teach the hungry people to plant their own...
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14 May 2006
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Wider Paths

This morning we worked some composted manure, kelp meal, and our regular compost into the beds in the back yard. I think we officially have “raised beds” now – even after all this rain, the soil was fairly loose and it was pretty easy to work the compost in. We planted carrots, beets, and onions in the back; we also planted cilantro, mint, and flat-leaf parsley in containers sitting in the front yard. I want to get half of our beans in the ground, but I think I’ll wait until we get a trellis built up for them. I’ve read mixed things on timing of bean planting, but I know we planted them too late last year. I’m thinking late-may,...
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10 May 2006
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Fenugreek

Here you can see the fenugreek in the back just starting to sprout. Plus, there’s a better view of the onions that didn’t die over the winter, and the rest of the back garden.
07 May 2006
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The new garden

We wanted more garden space, so here it is: right in the front yard. It is NOT easy cutting out grass. But I probably saved a summer’s worth of weeding by getting rid of it. The soil is so compact, and it’s going to need a lot of peat moss and topsoil before we plant.
03 May 2006
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The Garden

The garden in the back: we tilled, added peat moss, dug new raised beds, and placed straw down in the rows. The onions sprouted up from last year – they never got big enough to harvest, and I didn’t want to just till them under this year. The “back” part of the garden (behind the onions, in this photo) is mostly clay and really heavy. The plan is to plant a cover crop and legume (fenugreek) there this year to prevent it from turning to weeds and for green manure for next year.
26 Apr 2006
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Eggplants

Our eggplant seedlings are finally coming through. We replanted them on March 15th, and they finally started to sprout at the very begging of April. We transplanted the seedlings to individual pots on April 7th, and we’ve been watering them on and off with Kelp Tea and PlanTea. Tip for next year: Eggplants, okra, and peppers need to be started before the tomatoes. The eggplants and okra will need lots of heat to germinate – most of the seed packages say 80-90F! Placing a heating pad under small sprouting trays may just do the trick.
25 Apr 2006
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Seedling Pictures

Tomatoes, broccoli, and fianlly some eggplants (in the front right). Seems like the rest of our seedlings are growing nicely – not quite as fast as the crazy tomatoes!
24 Apr 2006
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Giant Tomatoes!

I haven’t taken pictures for a while… mostly, things have just been slowly growing. I bought some Kelp Meal and PlanTea for the seedlings, and we have been adding them to the water about once a week for the past month. Most things are still slow-growing, but these Romas, Cherry Tomatoes, and Early Reds are nearly out of control! I had to get gallon-sized pots for them, and we transplanted the huge tomatoes in mid-April. My hopes are that they will hold off flowering until we set them out in early June!
23 Mar 2006
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Chile Pepper Seedlings

We got a ton of peppers from our Easy Bean CSA last year, so this year we decided to plant all chile peppers. According to Chris, you can never have enough chiles! Here’s a picture of our pepper seedlings so far – quite a bit behind the tomatoes, but they are hanging in there. They have all been repotted into a perlite/peat moss/potting soil mixture.
22 Mar 2006
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Fast-growing Tomatoes!

As you can see, the tomatoes are growing nicely! The ones that we repotted have really taken off, while the tomatoes we left in the original peat pots are quite a bit smaller. My guess is that the soil was just much better – we used a mixture of peat moss/planting mix, potting soil, and perlite for the big guys. You can just barely see the Waltham Broccoli in this picture. I tried planting broccoli last year, but never had any luck.
14 Mar 2006
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Growing Tomatoes

The tomatoes are still growing. The Roma, Early Red, and Cherry are growing fairly quickly. Right now, we are watering just about every two days. We have the pots in trays so we can water from the bottom. The chile peppers have grown enough to be transplanted into their own pots. We still haven’t had any luck with eggplant or okra germination. We replanted both, and are going to set them close to the space heater, hoping for the best.
05 Mar 2006
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Tomato Seedlings

The tomatoes started germinating about 10 days after planting. This picture was taken one month after planting, just after we transplanted the seedlings into their own pots. The Early Red, Roma, and Cherry tomatoes are the largest of the lot – these get their own pots earlier than the specialty varieties. Still no luck with sprouting eggplant or okra – I think they need more heat than the basement can give them.
28 Feb 2006
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Starting Seeds Inside

The plan this year is to start our entire garden from seed. We started tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, eggplant, and okra at the beginning of February. Here’s where the “operation” takes place: in the basement on a table surrounded by chicken wire (to keep out a cat, who destroyed the seedlings last year). A few fluorescent lights and a space heater later, and we we’re ready to start growing! A list of what we have: Tomatoes Amana Orange Marvel Striped Oxacan Pink Prize of the Trails Cherry Early Red Chief Roma Eggplant Pink Bi-colored Italian White Black Peppers Czechoslovokian Black Cayenne Purira Chile Hungarian Wax Jalapeno Star of David Okra Waltham Broccoli Here’s hoping for a bountiful season!
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