tomatoes are planted...

as well as about 50 onions. aimed for 18" centers, but with 21 plants, and 25 square feet.. well u do the math. ended up going in a 3-2-3-2-3-2-3 pattern, starting at the top left and going to the bottom right with:

sun sugar (red) - Isis (white) - Azoychika (yellow beefsteak)
pink cherry - big zebra (green)
copia (red?) - black cherry - ghost (white)
green zebra - gold nugget
Dr Carolyn (white) - Snow white - Snow white
Snow white - Gold nugget
?? nugget - green zebra - green zebra
ghost - isis - bonus (runt)

of course, the planting in plot A was after double digging plot B, shaping the whole upper bed (A and B), and spreading fertilizer. first spread 4 lb of bone meal over the whole 50 s.f. then 3 boxes (1.5 kilo each) of blood meal over plot A only, getting an even distribution. then planted the tomatoes as described above, with interspersed onions between each 2 plants, and onions around the perimiter of the bed.

to do:
o weed and double dig plot C (full texturizing with sand and compost)
o shape, soil test, and fertilize plot B
o plant plot B with bean seeds, transplant some cucumbers as well
o build compost box

dig dig dig dug

okee, the next 25 s.f. (plot B) is proving to be a back-breaker. there's a root system on top from some grass that was growing there before, and of course a redwood tree root system below. and of course it is just as clay-ey as plot A. argh. so i mixed in about 100 lb. of sand in plot A, and managed to break up a lot of the clods that were on top. then i spread out about 120 lb of sand on plot B, and dug it into the top layer (maybe 8-12" or so) and broke up quite a few clods. smoothed it with a rake and then added a layer of compost, and mixed that in. it was getting dark, so i called it a night.

bought about 16.5 lb of blood meal, and 4 lb of bone meal.. should be sufficient for this initial go at fertilisation.

to do:
o finish full texturising double-dig of plot B
o shape and fertilise plot A and B
o plant tomatoes and onions
o build compost bin

more soil tests

nitrogen sucks.. whatever was in there before has eaten it all up. tester score is N0 (DEPLETED). phosphorus is ok. scored between P2 (ADEQUATE) and P3 (SUFFICIENT). Potash K3 (SUFFICIENT).

so that's

N0
P2
K3

will fertilize with 36 lb / 100 s.f. dried blood (yum), 6 lb / 100 s.f. bone meal. since i'm doing 50 s.f. today, i just need half. and my next 25 s.f. will have lots of N fixing legumes!

soil tests

pH test came out to about 6.5 (leaning towards 6.0) so a little on the acidic side, which should be great for veggies. The sample for testing N, P, K is still sorting itself out.. will update tomorrow. The soil has so much clay.. gotta get more sand in there tomorrow.

Carrots and chives have started sprouting like crazy.. will be ready to transplant to deeper box soon. Had a little trouble with some mushrooms sprouting up, but went ahead and ground them back into the soil. No longer using plastic sheets to create a greenhouse over the seedling box.

Seedling boxes

Built a few seedling boxes to grow tomato seedlings and transport them to the garden plot. Last night planted 4 cucumber seeds.

to do:
o build more seedling boxes
o soil tests
o mix in sand
o fertilize
o plant first 25 s.f.
o dig next 25 s.f. (fill compst sacks, get more sand)
o build compost bin

window boxes

for seedling flats..
9.5" wide
28" long x 4
25" long x 1

more stuff

Got a nice rake, some tough gloves, a big bag of sand, some potting soil, and some more free compost. Also got a packet of spinach seeds, and planted 4 seeds in another seedling flat. Tomato plants are getting big.. will need to transplant soon.

to do:
o mix sand into top 25 s.f. soil
o do soil tests
o fertilize
o plant tomato
o fill compost bags
o get more sand (if i like how the first batch turns out)
o weed/double dig next 25 s.f.
o build modular enclosure for compost heap

In the Beginning

OK... day 1 (saturday): cleared weeds around a 20x5 foot area in the yard. Started a compost pile in another corner with the weeds, some pine needles, ivy clippings, etc. Tried to compress the soil a bit around the 100 s.f. area, but it was too damp.

day 2 (today): weeded the upper 5 feet, then loosened the soil with a spading fork. Added a layer of compost acquired from local city compost site (2 burlap bags covered 25 s.f.). dug in the compost layer a bit, then did a full texturizing double dig. used about 1.5 more bags of compost in the trenches.

notes: next time use 2 bags of sand, the soil is very clay-ey. also wait for it to dry out a bit more.. very heavy. also get some leather gloves ... the cloth ones do nothing.

seedlings update: on thursday, planted baby carrot seeds and garlic chive seeds.. also received 12 cherry tomato plants of various types, about 4-6 inches high... planted in another box in honeycomb pattern.

to do:
o get a hard rake
o get leather gloves
o do soil tests
o determine fertilizer needs
o get fertilizer
o get large modular composter box
o get 5 more bags of compost