Back to Eden Garden Update

April 18, 2013

This post is an update from the ‘Early Spring Back to Eden Garden Update‘ post, from the beginning of March.

I had just planted a LARGE potato patch. Even after a month, nothing had come through and since it has been raining quite a bit, I assumed they had rotted. Thankfully, I was wrong! We have potato plants! I am giddy 🙂 I am trying not to get my hopes up because a lot can happen from now until harvest time but I am excited to see the sprouts, nonetheless.

The potatoes were planted in composted chicken manure, then layered with 8″ mulch, and then we put horse manure on top of the mulch…partially because we were given the horse manure after we had already planted but it turns out to be a good thing – the potatoes get manure tea (aka. fertilizer, free and organic) every time it rains 🙂

Do you remember the greenhouses I started? I have not posted on them since the beginning because nothing seemed to be coming up…but kale.

Of the 5 jugs I planted seeds in, only one came up. I left them though and planted a second round. Turns out, the seeds were not sprouting yet because it was not warm enough but as soon as it warmed up, the warm-weather seeds did, indeed, sprout…just like the blogger said. I am very excited that I have pepper and tomato plants sprouted because the indoor ones flopped. Big time.

(top; L to R: lettuce, cantaloupe, pumpkin bottom; L to R: two kinds of tomatoes & more lettuce)

All but the kale is still really small but the I transplanted the kale and it is doing really well so I have hope that these will continue growing so they can be transplanted into the garden soon!

Speaking of the transplanted kale…in the first picture, look at the bottom middle. That itty bitty thing is a kale transplant in a bed I have yet to layer with mulch. (The other plants are those I planted straight into the bed in January had have been covered since then.)

(This picture is the other transplanted kale. It is hard to tell the difference (sorry) but this one, in mulch, has weathered the transplanting MUCH better.)

Some other Back to Eden Garden updates…

I planted some carrots and peas. It will likely get too hot too soon because of how our ‘springs’ go in NC, but it is old seed so I wanted to throw it out there to see what would come of it. The peas (older seed) are giving me spotty germination but the carrots are coming up strong.

Remember the raspberry plants we got as a Christmas present? Some of them have already ‘greened up’. I am not expecting fruit this year but seeing the green gives me hope for next year!

The last update from the early March post concerns the chicks. They roost during the day but at night they still huddle up in the same corner where the heat lamp used to be. They are 6 weeks old. I certainly don’t want any of them to die from being smushed but I didn’t think a heat lamp was necessary since they are fully feathered. Hmmm. We may have to put one out there again. We’ll see.

They are LOVING the run, not so much the tractor. They eat our kitchen scraps. They especially love the juice pulp, probably because it is already in little bits. They lay out in the sun in the mornings and they all lay together in a big group under a cluster of trees in the afternoons. They are some happy birds.

How are your Back to Eden gardens coming along? If you have a blog, I would love to see some pics!

I am linking up to Simple Lives Thursday