My new spot

This year I'm teaming up with my grandpa to help him take care of his garden and plant some stuff of my own. Here you can see the freshly tilled soil...thanks to me for running the tiller. I've never actually measured the plot but I'm thinking approximately 80ft x 40ft.



After I tilled the garden, I transplanted a row of Dwarf Siberian kale that I started from seed. I've really taken a liking to greens plus they are really nutritious. To the right of the kale and in the back is a short row of Swiss Chard that just started to sprout. Unfortunately you can't see from the picture.



The hallmark of the garden for me will be tomatoes. I'll be growing at least a row of Roma tomatoes that we'll use for canning purposes along with another row of beefsteaks and other slicing type tomatoes. I started the Roma's from seed around St. Patrick's Day and they really took off under the lights in a warm part of my basement. I brought them down to my grandpa's and potted them up into larger containers. Hopefully I can hold them off at least another two weeks before they need to be planted. The second picture shows the slicing tomatoes I started from seed which are growing under lights in my basement. These are the Super Beefsteak and Endless Summer varieties.

Update from the yarden...

So just like most places on the east coast, the weather here in Maryland has been very mild this spring. I started lettuce and spinach indoors and transplanted them into the garden sometime in late March. This year I grew Black Seeded Simpson and Red Sails lettuce and Tyee spinach. As of mid-April they are looking very nice in the garden and I've started cutting some for salads.



One of the new things I'm trying this year is potatoes. Just your run of the mill grocery store white and red potatoes. I let two potatoes grow eyes than cut off cubes each with one eye to plant. I planted a row with five pieces and within the past week or so they have all sprouted. Most information sources seem to recommend against using grocery store potatoes but we'll treat this as an experiment and hope for the best.



Another new thing I planted this year are raspberry bushes. I made a raised bed in the corner of my backyard to take up some unused space and planted 3 black raspberry plants. These are actually wild plants that I dug up from a local park. This park is teaming with these plants so I didn't feel like I would be negatively impacting the berry supply in this location. Besides, raspberries readily propagate via their tips so it should all work out. Here you can see the planter box I made along with the raspberry plants with some new green shoots.



I found this article which explains how to identify wild raspberry plants. I also visited this location last summer and was confident that these are indeed black raspberries. This one talks about how to care for wild blackberry plants planted in your garden. If you've never eaten wild raspberries before they truly are a treat. The berries are smaller than store bought berries but much more flavorful. I can't wait for these to start producing.