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In Our Maine Garden 2019: It Begins

Another spring, another start to a growing season. There are some changes afoot for our growing habits this year. What are they? Find out in this first installment of In Our Maine Garden 2019.

Our gardens in April. Clean up on aisle Q!

Things we did well last growing season: Grew things

Things we did not do well last growing season: Put the bed to, well, bed.

But that’s okay. It’s all simple cleanup.

In fact, it’s more than okay. We found a happy surprise when we returned to the community garden earlier this month: accidentally overwintered scallions. And you know what that means? We’re already harvesting!

Once we finish pulling the scallions, we’ll plant lettuce in their place.

You might notice that you’re seeing more of the garden this time. That’s because we have more garden to share! We’ve upgraded from one to four boxes for this season. Yes, four. Yes, that’s a big jump. We’re pretty excited.

The kids and I cleaned out the boxes during the first week of May. It took a bit of effort but was worth it.

And then we planted our seeds on Mother’s Day. It was pushing it a bit, in terms of earliness (the threat of frost hadn’t quite passed) but it was fine. Even though our planting day was followed by some pretty cold days, the seeds were okay.

I just didn’t want to miss a second of the growing season this year.

Another big change we made this year is that we used loam instead of compost in three of the boxes. I was anxious to plant and the compost wasn’t available yet so we decided to take our chances.

The fourth box, which will be for our tomatoes and herbs, will be mixed with compost. The master gardener for the community garden suggested that we wait one more week before planting that box because some excellent compost is coming this week. Since our last box is tomatoes and herbs — cold-sensitive crops — I don’t mind waiting a bit longer. Maine weather is notoriously finicky.

Off to a good start? I think so. We’re already seeing signs of growth.

The radishes are already growing. And I think the peas might be fighting their way up too. Time to buckle down with regular garden visits and watering. Can’t rely on the rain for that!

Now, to put up trellises for the peas and cucumbers.

What’s happening in your garden?

Kate

Saturday 25th of May 2019

Our tomatoes and mint never stopped growing!