Accidental Homesteader

The Husband is invested in making the garden work this year, and I’m on board! We have started some seeds inside, planted some things, and have some returning things.

Returning

Our asparagus came back, despite (or perhaps because of) my neglect last year. Healthy, robust spears abound. Even so, I’m hoping to plant some more to fill in any gaps.

The spears are nice and thick, and so good. We’ve used them in a number of things, from quiches and frittatas to pastas. Tonight I’m going to roast them and serve with a chicken dish.

Our raspberries have a little bit of life left in them, so we are going to nurture them and hope for the best. I’ve got them in my old herb garden, and moved the herbs to the porch last year, simply because I’ll use them more if they are just outside the door, rather than over by the compost pile.

Indoor Seed Starting

The Husband is a cell biologist, so he likes the sciencey parts of the garden the most. He went through the seeds and germinated a bunch of them. The ones that made it through, we put into peat cells, and have been letting them grow.

We have a lot of different seeds in a 72 cell tray. He’s got one spreadsheet to rule them all. We will see what happens. Some are doing better than others.

This week, we get to start some tomatoes indoors. I’d like to fix the infrastructure so that we can use the green house. I need to find our plastic and put it on the frame that exists in our yard.

Outside Seeds and Seedlings

I started the brassicas in late March. The usual cabbage, brussel sprouts, broccoli, and cauliflower. I may have started it a little late.

I also planted some seeds for various lettuces, radishes, beets, and carrots. Next up are peas. but I have to make my dirt first. I’ve got peat, soil, and humus to mix and lay down over the beds for peas. Next is to clear the bean beds, I’m going to do two different things, first, a three sisters setup with corn, beans, and squash. Next is a bean tent, with nasturtiums at the bottom. This is getting around my mostly edible planting by being edible flowers. I’ll use them in cooking eventually, and in art for my flower pressing.

Infrastructure

Watering is an issue this (and every) year. We always start strong, then lose interest – so I continue the search for the best app-based water timer. B-Hyve isn’t that robust, and RainPoint just clogged. Trying B-Hyve again, maybe it will work this time. I pulled all of the past year infrastructure within the bed. Right now we have a horseshoe shape of raised beds, with ground crops in the middle. We are clearing it out in our own ways. I’m weeding by hand, and the Husband is hoeing and using the tractor.

I have the materials for a new raised bed, but haven’t gotten around to setting it up. I’m hoping to get the Husband to help.

I want to expand the irrigation to cover the whole yard.