Some Spring Planting

Right now, our plot at the community garden looks mostly like a big weed patch. Actually, since we opted for a second plot, it looks like 2 big weed patches. Thus the name for the new plot:

(Excuse my fingers in front of the lens on that photo.) The ground was a little too wet for rototilling, so we dug out a couple of beds by hand. As Helena put it, "we don't need no stinkin' tillers." Actually, true. We did just fine with a couple shovels and my trusty garden claw.

This year, since we have more room, we're trying some new things, including asparagus--which, can I just say--no one seems to agree about how to plant. Esp in terms of how deep to dig the furrows, and then how much soil to cover the crowns. In the end, we dug our furrows about 6" deep, and covered the crowns with loose soil almost to the top of the furrow.

If you've never planted asparagus, the crowns look kind of like big spiders.

We planted 10 crowns total of Jersey Giant, ordered from Seeds of Change. Asparagus takes several years to mature, so we won't be harvesting anything from these plants any time soon.

We also planted some lettuce, something we didn't try last year because (1) we got a late start in the spring and (2) the fall was pretty wet and we didn't do much then except to plant garlic (which you can kind of see in the first photo at the beginning of this post).

You can't tell from these photos, but it was pretty darn cold out there. And windy too. After two hours, we packed it in.