Seeding the outdoor garden 4-12-12

After a fairly easy bike ride home, I had the energy to go out and look things over.  We also had our spruce stump ground today and my husband had me out raking away the chips.  With the work energy started, I knew I could get in the seeds before our anticipated rain tomorrow.  Since I had done all the bed prep this weekend, it would go pretty quickly.  
The funny thing about growing older is that you don't get everything done in the same amount of time as you did even a few years before.  I had managed to sift two large wheelbarrows of compost, weed and work the bed, and spread the compost.  

After all was said and done, I only got my garden peas and flowering sweet peas in the ground.  If they hadn't been soaking overnight and HAD to go in the ground that day, it probably wouldn't have happened.  The garden peas and beans fall victim to the chipmunks in my yard so after planting, I place some expanded metal over the top to keep them safe.  Once the plants are up a couple inches, I can easily lift the 1" mesh over and off the beds.  

I used some single ply twine to grid the bed.  I tied a knot in the end, stapled it to the edge, knotted the opposite and and stapled it down.  It really is good for distinguishing beds in the square foot gardening method.  You really get the most use out of the soil space.  
Kale had overwintered in one corner of the bed.  I have started a second variety of kale in the house which I will pop in next to these.  I also put in Swiss chard, parsnips, green bunching onions, radishes, lettuce, and beets.  I still have to transplant my onions, but I digress.  

I have some tools that I really like for seeding.  Plastic tags and a grease pencil are a must.  I do not rely on my memory and sometimes I put in more than one variety. The grease pencil scrubs off and the tags can be reused until they break.  I have a dibble (blue thingy), a seed dispenser (green thingy), and a seed shaker (red thingy).  The seed shaker was a pretty good purchase as I can use it for lots of different size seeds and the clicker vibrates the tray to move the seed out pretty evenly.  The hand cultivator is very useful for making furrows for larger seed or raking in smaller, shallow seeds.

For plants that "bulb" out like beets and radishes, I make furrows at least twice the depth that is recommended.  I add in the recommended amount over the seed and reserve the extra soil to the sides of the furrow.  As the plants grow, I push the soil up around the plants to encourage the plant to round out rather than get long and leggy.  This is not something I read, but something I learned through trial and error.  It may be our heavy, clay soil that makes the plants push up more than down, but I know it works for me and recommend it to others who don't get nice round radishes.
Radishes were not always on my "must plant" list.  I have acquired a taste for them over time.  French breakfast are my favorites, but Jung sent Purple Plum radish seeds as a freebie so I divided my space for trying both.  Early planting is a must.  They don't like heat and get woody fast when the summer temps go up.  The spring radishes are cool and crisp and don't seem to have the bite of late season radishes.  Give them a whirl if you haven't planted them.  They also come fast and are ready to eat in about a month (almost instant gratification in garden terms).

So after all was said and done, I had 10 different things planted in the vegetable beds. The garlic has been composted and the herb garden is giving me some fresh additions to my cooking (what says Spring better than chives?).  I still have to get the storing onions planted.  They have spent four nights outside in their pots and it has been in the low 30's so they are ready for whatever the weather has to throw at them.  I hope to post some pictures of the new seedlings soon.