Contents
1999's Garden
2000
Well this year is going to be different. Now do we all say that every year? Well anyway, this years vegetable garden is going to be smaller. I have determined that I still had way too many tomato plants for 2 people, and even removing suckers did not keep them in check. So I only plan on 4 plants in the garden and 2 cherry tomatoes in pots on the deck.
I am writing this in mid January. Currently my plans are not any greater than to do it all again, better. Thus far I have not planted any seeds, bought any seeds, nor designed any beds or really given it any thought except what you have already seen.I thought it might be interesting to do it all here on line and let you lucky people watch as I succeed or screw it up and hopefully learn something that might help you too.
I have now created a plan for my 1999 vegetable garden. I have a layout of this garden including plant locations on a separate page. Click here to view it.
I won't bore you with the really mundane stuff I put in my journal just the highlights.
Jan 20 - Got the shelf unit built.
Jan 27 - Went looking for 3 foot long flourescent shop lights. Not as cheap as the 4 footers, light tubes more expensive too. Revaluating situation.
Jan 28 - Sixty five degrees this morning, highly unusual. Cleaned the dead plants out of the vegetable garden finally and threw them into the compost bin.
Feb 11 - Planted a few peat pots of lobelia and periwinkle. It is 3 months before the last estimated frost date for my area. These seeds were to be planted 10-12 weeks early.
Feb 18 - Experimented with shelf unit and and the 4 foot shop light I had suspended above the floor last year. Decided it would work and save money ($56 to be precise though it would only have been $43 if I hadn't already owned one light fixture). See how I did it in Tools & Techniques.
Feb 19 - The first crocus is up. Early due to the warm winter.
Feb 20 - The lobelia sprouted nearly 2 weeks earlier than the packet said it would.
Feb 22 - 20 degrees F at 7 am.
Mar 1 - The periwinkles have started to sprout. Planted dianthus and johnny jump ups today. Bought 3 "Walls of Water", ($7.97/3) plastic tubes filled with water that surround the plant and claim it can be planted outside 6-8 weeks before the last frost date. I am going to experiment by planting 3 tomato plants outside early. Would be nice to have a home grown tomato a month earlier than normal.
Mar 3 - Planted tomatoes; Early girl, Brandywine and Better Bush for my Walls of Water experiment. Loosened soil in lower 8 foot section of garden and removed weeds and rocks. Why not it was in the high 50s.
Mar 5-8 - Both dianthus and johnny jump ups have sprouted.
Mar 9 - Got 12 inches of snow today, the most in March in 57 years, we were only supposed to get 3.
Mar 10 - half the snow melted already.
Mar 14 - Got 5-6 inches more snow mixed with rain and sleet. 39-40 degrees F all day.
Mar 15 - Planted several varieties of flower seeds today, including carnation, coreopsis, chrysanthemum, aster, vinca, monarda, and poppy. Some of these seeds were left over from 1997 and given to me by a friend. I won't know for a week or two if they are any good.
Mar 18/19 - Carnation, coreopsis, aster, monarda and poppy all growing.
Mar 22 - Planted the tomatoes (Brandywine, Better Boy, Celebrity, Roma, Sweet Millions, Yellow Pear) and pepper (Sweet Pickle) in peat pots.
Mar 23/24 - Enlarged one flower bed by 8 feet by spreading newspaper and black plastic mulch weighted with rocks to kill off the grass. Also spread plastic for a 3 x 15 foot cutting garden. Started edging the veggie garden in black plastic to keep the grass from creeping in this year.
Mar 26 - Replanted the chrysanthemums today because I figured out I had labeled the pots but actually neglected to plant the seeds. So there was a good reason nothing had sprouted!
April 4 - Planted 3 rows of yellow onions and 2 rows of snow peas (Snow Bird and Melting Sugar). High of 78 F. Had to replant my Celebrity tomatoes because only 1 germinated.
April 5 - Planted my Yukon Gold potatoes.
April 8 - Planted some strawberries my neighbor gave me at the west end of my garden. Next year I will worry about how to deal with the runners. It also reached over 84 F today! Had to already lay out and turn on a soaker hose because the rain has been minimal.
April 18 - Planted 6 " tall tomatoes: Brandywine, Better Boy, and Early Girl outside in the walls of water. Decided against the Better Bush because it is growing so much more slowly.
April 20 - Been having very windy, cool weather for over a week now. Planted many herbs and flower seeds indoors today, from dill and basil to celosia and Mexican sunflowers. My Early Girl and Brandywine baked. I replaced them and made certain the top was well ventilated. Note: next year use the walls a month earlier.
April 25 + 26 - Dug out my 3 x 15 foot flower bed that was covered in black plastic. The grass was almost dead and it was easier to dig. Too bad it couldn't make the rocks go away! I added a wheelbarrow load of composted manure and recovered it to kill off any remaining roots. Also placed a bunch of my peat pots outside in partial shade to acclimate.
May 4 - Well it was still too much sun for the salvia seedlings, they are dead! Got a few left to plant outside, need to figure out how. Replaced the dead ones with zinnias. Hard to kill a zinnia. My potatoes are not sprouting at the same rate as last year. Only 2 are now above ground after a month. I did some sample digging and found a few were eaten by insects or never sprouted. May not be a good year for potatoes!
Replaced the salvia with store bought plants. Doing fairly well though 3 were munched by an unknown animal. (deer suspected)
Yes I have been negligent in updating this journal but I have been battling insects, heat, drought, and weeds, not to mention wildlife!
June - By the middle of this month most of the seedlings were planted outside. When my beans sprouted something other than a bug ate the tops off, I am left with 5 plants. Only 2/3 of my potatoes sprouted and those were attacked by beetle larvae. My marigolds did no good because they have yet to flower. I found that the pesticide Sevin did not work but Rotenone did.
The early heat and drought destroyed my snowpeas. I have lost many flowers including the asclepias tuberosas (orange butterfly weed) which are supposed to be drought tolerant.
Was able to pick rhubarb leaves for the first time and bake a pie. Needed strawberries because there wasn't enough rhubarb. Next year should be different.
The spring was so dry my 15-17 foot sweet gum and red maple lost many of their leaves and what's left are not normal sized. I am watering them every other day, and am keeping my fingers crossed.
My house plumbing has been losing water pressure. I am fearful that the well is in danger due to the 3 year drought. It does appear the pressure tank already needs replacement.
July 6 - 7 - Picked my first green beans. Rosemary is 15 inches tall. It was only 99 degrees F today, actually a bit cooler than the past few days. I managed to pull a few weeds here and there and had to water the trees again including the pines. Lost water pressure again and there was no water in the system for 5 minutes.
July 8 - Planted another row of green beans. My neighbor suggested spreading blood meal around them to deter the bunnies. Also managed to hoe out some weeds since the temperature dropped a good 20 degrees over night and the humidity dried up.
July 9 - Spread blood meal around my beans and a few other choice enterances to my garden. It smells awful! Humidty is back but it's only 91 F today.
July 15? - Extreme heat, over 100 degrees F 3 days in a row! Beastly weather. I have started to pick roma tomatoes but they aren't the best looking things, have splotchy skin.
July 24 - 25 - Had 2 severe thunderstorms! Got at least 2 inches Saturday and another 1/2 to 1 inch Sunday! No cooler or less humid though. The winds knocked over my extremely heavy tomato plants. Restaking them has been difficult, I keep hitting rocks.
July 26 - Picked my first brandywine, it was huge, 6 inches across. It was cracking at the stem and also blotchy. I fertilzed the plants today. The pumpkin leaves are dying in the centers of the plants, Some fruit are already turning orange.
As you can see I things petered out at this point. To put it bluntly there were too many plants, too many insects, too little water and too much heat. I got tired of fighting it. I did manage to pick enough tomatoes to can 14 quarts and harvested enough pumpkins to bake a few pies. Maybe 2000 will be better?
Horticulture Magazine's Web Page - Where you can read articles on gardening and even design your own garden on-line.
Seed Catalogs - A few of the catalogs I have used.
The State Arboretum of Virginia - 700 acres of gardens, wetlands, and pines in northern Virginia just west of the Blue Ridge Mountains. A lovely place to visit (and it's free). Take the virtual tour.
Graphics created by Buzzsolo
Last revised: January 09, 2000.