Planting the Garden

For the last two weeks, little by little, we have been working on planting the garden.  We have finally got the majority of it in.  

I think we've got a pretty good balance on what we've planted.  We planted potatoes (russets and yukon golds), tomatoes (early girl, roma, beef steak and manitoba), peas, green beans, carrots, beets, cucumbers, corn, yellow straight-neck squash, zucchini, acorn squash, pumpkins, cabbage, broccoli, rhubarb, an heirloom melon that has been in Heath's family for a long time, and of course our strawberries and asparagus.  

As usual, we had lots and lots of help!

And you can't live in Idaho with out some delicious potatoes!

Heath's dad switched to raised beds a few years ago.  Not needing his seeder any more, he generously gave it to us and it made light work for planting all those seeds.  

Strawberry Patch

One thing (among a long list of others), Heath and I really want in our garden is Strawberries.  Heath did some more research of varieties and he decided on one called Honeoye.  They are a June bearing variety, over winter very well, great for canning and freezing and are known for their vibrant color.  If all goes well, we plan on doing lots and lots of canning and freezing!  We bought 30 bare root dormant plants and potted them up into none other than red plastic Solo cups.  

Here they are about a week after potting them and placing them under our grow lights.

This is three weeks after potting.

Foliage was growing and they were trying to to bloom, so Saturday we decided to get them into the ground.  

E was very anxious and willing to help.  If you were to ask her on any given day, she would tell you that strawberries are her favorite food.  

She did great, and it really is wonderful to see the kids get so excited about growing our own food.  

The NanoDome!

While attending a gardening training/expo for work Heath won the NanoDome by Sun Blaster as a door prize.  He really is one of the luckiest guys I know! (He also won a Wii U after purchasing only one $10 raffle ticket)  We love it!! Heath has already started two flats of seeds including three varieties of tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, broccoli, lettuce, marigolds, and Texas blue bonnets.

The NanoDome in action!

Our seeds getting a little fresh air earlier this week.

Dirty Work

Spring is on its way and the snow has finally melted!  Preparations for our new garden are well underway.  We originally found a spot on our place that we thought would be perfect for our garden.  It had full sun, good drainage, easy access from all sides, it seemed to be perfect.  Heath cranked up the tiller and made two passes and we quickly discovered that it was loaded with rocks.  After six wheelbarrows full of rocks and not being able to notice any difference, we decided to reevaluate. 

We opted for this spot and as Heath attempted once more to till, we found it to be much better!  The dirt is a deep sandy loam, with very few rocks compared to our original plot.  After chopping down two small trees we got to work.  (Sorry Janie)

Even though we are well into April we are still getting quite a few nights of freezing temperatures, yet another thing we will have to get use to again.  Although we still have about 3-4 weeks until we will be ready to officially plant the garden we decided to start our asparagus.  

We purchased 24 dormant asparagus crowns - Viking KB3 was the variety we chose.  They were developed in Minnesota to be very cold hardy, and considering the winters we have here they will do great.  

We laid them out in two rows and mulched!