March 2022 Updates: Spring Projects Galore
We’ve had an unseasonably warm March overall this year, which has allowed me and my husband to get out early to complete some projects before planting season begins in earnest. The biggest one of these is finally getting our raised beds set up.
Raised Bed Construction & Planting
We bought concrete blocks back in the Fall but the soil was too cool and wet for us to do much with them at the time. Now that it’s warming up + we have been blessed with the power of the rototiller (long may it reign), we were able to dig to begin work on our first raised bed. I didn’t get a ton of pics of the early stages, but it’s mainly just:
- Till into the heavy clay dookie mud.
- Attempt to level the ground.
- Drop a block in place.
- Get frustrated because the block isn’t level.
- Attempt to level block.
- It’s still not level.
- WTF.
- Oh there it goes.
- Repeat.
A few people asked me whether I’d try hugelkulture gardening and this is my attempt at that. We had a lot of blown down sticks and limbs from the ice storms this winter so the bottom layer of the bed is mostly that. I also mixed in a lot of maple and oak leaves that had collected around our garage. This was a nice way to lower the cost for filling + the organic materials should break down over time to help fertilize the bed slowly.
Also pictured in here: our dead mini-Christmas tree that I SAVED for a moment such as this.
All sticks and dirt hand picked and placed by artisans. And by artisans I mean me.
Once I had a good base layer of sticks/leaves/fill dirt, I added compost on top and mixed til the bed was filled almost to the top. Some of the compost came from my personal tumbler, though I did have to buy a couple bags to make sure I got enough coverage. I also added a bit of old potting mix that I had overwintering in the garage.
First plants! Spinach and romaine lettuce starts on one side; the other is dedicated to radishes but they haven’t sprouted yet.
And of course, after a month of warm temps, we’re due for frosts the next few days, so I had to improvise a redneck frost cover. This is just rebar tucked into the blocks with thin PVC pipe fitted across. I probably should’ve gotten a shorter length…
AND if you think it couldn’t get any worse, let me show you the actual covers… These are just painter drop cloths held on with chip clips and spare rocks. It’s technically not a real cover but it should keep the seedlings warm enough in the cold. And that’s what matters.
This one bed is large enough to fit a quite a bit which is great. We still have a ton of blocks though, and I’m hoping we can get at least one more done before summer planting in May.
A Failed Project: Indoor Seed Starting
Earlier in the month I decided I’d try to start seeds indoors. I’ve usually bought starts from greenhouses in the past but it felt like it was time to level up and start learning to do it from scratch. I planted lettuce and spinach seeds, hooked up a grow light, and waited. It started off well enough:
But after they germinated, these little seeds wilted and died as suddenly as they sprang up. After doing some reading I suspect they may have ‘dampened off’. I was misting them twice a day and in hindsight I probably could’ve done that once a day (or even every other day). A lesson learned! I didn’t put all my eggs in this basket luckily.
A Maybe Not Failed Project: Outdoor Seed Starting
I had some extra seeds after my indoor seed starting adventure, so as usual I chaotically sowed some outdoors along with some onion starts because WHY NOT. I didn’t really expect them to sprout at all, but I was surprised to find some lettuce seedlings poking through today?!?
They’re even pushing through the woodchips, which is amazing for how tiny they are. The onions haven’t even poked out yet and these guys are out here putting them to shame. I will have to cover them before those frosts though…
Additional Projects To Come SoonTM
-
Moar Blueberries Bushes?
-
Wildflowers and sunflowers?
-
A tire swing…?
