Wordless Wednesday - Beauty in the Ordinary

scrub oak in bloom

The Soil Test

I bought a home soil test kit at Lowes, $10.00 for 10 tests. I figured, what did I have to lose?

I took samples from three beds, one that I will plant my peppers in, one that I will plant my tomatoes in and the new one in the perennial/herb garden that will house a squash plant or two and is filled with dump dirt.
I spent about 15 minutes removing the leaves and twigs from the dump dirt, and only about five minutes from the Potager dirt. First thing I learned - I need more organic material in the Potager soil. I let the soil dry for 12 hours.

The Ph test was fairly simple and quick with results. All three soil samples were 7.0, which is good, because vegetable gardens should be between 6.0 and 7.0.
So far so good.










The next test was for Nitrogen - the N in the NPK you see on fertilizer packages.

 





 It was supposed to turn a shade of pink.

I did not see any pink.

Either the test is wrong, or I need nitrogen. I'll add manure to the beds. I am not totally trusting the kit.

The Phosphorus test (the P in NPK)worked beautifully. The tomato bed was medium and the other two beds were both low.

The Potassium test (the K in NPK) was a bit harder to read. I'm thinking the Potager beds were medium and the dump dirt was high.

This was from the future pepper bed. You have to compare the black color through the cloudiness of the mixture. I thought medium. Do you agree?

So what did I learn?  I guess if you are really concerned about your soil you should take a soil sample to the agricultural center in your county and spend the money for a proper test.
I will go easy on the lime this year, since my Ph seems fine. I'll add manure for the nitrogen and continue to feed the seedlings with the fish emulsion, which is a 5-2-2 fertilizer. I may add a little bone meal to the soil to up it's phosphorus. I'll add compost to get more organic material in my soil.
In other words, I'll do what I was planning on doing anyway.
But maybe I'll run one more test after I amend the soil and see if the results change, to make sure the test is working.
I'm linking this post to the Tuesday Garden Party at An Oregon Cottage

The First of May

The first of May was warm and sunny. Perfect weather for taking the convertible for a spin and skipping chores in the garden altogether. So that's what we did! Fortunately, we did a lot on the 30th of April, which was also warm and sunny.

I added a chive plant and a thyme plant to my herb garden and stuck a Lamb's Ear in the corner where the path will turn. If you've ever grown Lamb's Ear, you know how invasive they are. I am hoping to contain it in the corner, and will replace it when it starts to look funky, as they all do eventually.
Aside from the fuzzy texture of the leaves, the flowers of the Lamb's Ear attract pollinators. One of the purposes of the perennial/herb garden is to attract pollinators.

The Potatoes are growing well. I have been looking for dead nettle, which is an herb that is supposed to deter potato bugs.

I put down plastic in a corner of the Potager next to the Broccoli to heat up the soil for the sweet potato slips I am growing.
I have never grown sweet potatoes but I think I can do this in this space. I am still researching whether or not to let the vine sprawl off to the side and make more sweet potatoes or have them climb up the fence to keep the potatoes to the original plant and thus have larger potatoes. The thing is, when the kids aren't here, I am the only one who eats sweet potatoes and I really don't care for large ones. I'll let you know what I decide in a month or so.
Those are watermelon radishes around the plastic. They are a white radish with a red interior. It's one of the new crops I'm trying this year. I can't wait to see how they taste!

I stuck my Easter Tulips in the flower bed in the back of the Potager to keep them safe from deer nibbles.
Not visible in this shot are the cosmos plants that are growing in this bed. They are tiny now, but will be huge. I love Cosmos, I love the goldfinches they attract, and I love the pinks and whites of the blooms.
However, I hindsight, they are one of those plants that deer don't ear, and they grow 4 feet tall. (I also planted a shorter variety in the front.) They really should have gone in the perennial/herb garden outside the Potager. But the fence hasn't been put in yet and the space wasn't ready for them.
I'll probably end up transplanting them.

The Roses bushes I trimmed are full and beautiful. The cilantro is growing great (I've already snipped some for meals). The blank spot from the greek oregano will hold basil, an herb that the deer will eat, so it will stay in the Potager, along with parsley.

The beds are starting to green up. The peas are wrapping around the teepees. The spinach looks good, as do the onions. Lettuce is coming up all over the Potager and the tomatoes and peppers and eggplants in the house are looking healthy and sturdy.  A few more weeks and every bed will be planted! Welcome May!

First harvest - Radishes

The first harvest from the Potager on Wednesday - fresh radishes! These were French Breakfast radishes planted on March 12.

Tossed in vinegar and water with a bit of salt and pepper.

A fresh, yummy addition to our dinner!

Wordless Wednesday - Spring blooms in pinks and blues

bleeding heart

grape hyacinth

creeping phlox

Virginia blue bells

violets

Over wintering seeds in the garden

I am so excited by the cilantro I put in last fall (Read about that here). It looks healthy and is growing so fast now that the weather is warming up.

I will definitely plant it this way next year. I wonder if there's any other plants that can sown in the fall for a spring harvest?

Of course there is garlic. Our garlic patch looks nice - we'll see how it is when we harvest it.

And I do have a few carrots that were sown last fall that are growing now. (They are much bigger now than in this photo) And a volunteer lettuce plant that has not been photographed yet.
I'll have to research this before the fall. Anything to get a head start on the garden in the spring is a help!

Linking up to Tuesday Garden Party at http://www.anoregoncottage.com/

The Perennial/Herb garden is shaping up

With all the rainy Saturdays, we still haven't gotten the fence yet, but hubby did make the two raised beds for the addition to the Potager:

He brought home load of dirt from the dump. Sadly, it looks better than my garden soil inside the Potager. The boxes are 2 feet deep and 3 feet deep. This bed is going to hold perennial herbs and flowers that, hopefully, the deer won't eat, with some vegetables tucked in that, hopefully, the deer won't find. The fence we are getting is going to be ornamental, not deer proof.
Saturday was cold and rainy, then Easter Sunday was hot - high 80's. We had a good time with family, but no gardening was done. So right after work on Monday, I changed my clothes and went out into the Potager.

I took the Greek oregano out of the Potager and planted a bit of it here, along with some sage and rosemary.
I still need to get some chives and thyme, and whatever else interests me that I can squeeze in this box.
The bigger box will hold squash or something similar.

Smokey joined me in the garden, finding a cool spot to nap on the slate under the planter box.

I planted Nasturtiums in the box and weeded the beds.

Finally hubby said I needed to stop working so we could eat.  I think on beautiful days like this I could skip dinner and just stay working in the garden until dark. But I stopped and went inside to work on dinner.

Dinner, did somebody mention dinner?