May Maintenance and Progress Report

Because of the cabbage moths my cauliflower and cabbage beds are locked down pretty tight with the insect netting, but I open them up at least once a week to check on things.  I can see through the netting pretty well so there are few surprises.  Its been 10 days since I weeded and there were a few started around the edges.  It is a good time to add some mulch to the garden.

I went through the whole bed with a claw, side dressed with Garden-tone, mulched with shredded Maple leaves from last fall and then watered everything well.  The beds with row covers are perfect for leaf mulch because it can't escape!

All ready to be tucked back in

Then on to the second bed...

For some reason the end of the bed with cabbages has zero weeds.

But they got some mulch too

Luscious Cabbages

 Blogger loaded the rest of these photos inside out but I'm too lazy to shuffle them back to my normal order..

Bed #12 Jade Bush beans seeded yesterday 05/25 with Sweet Alyssum for ground cover

Bed #11 Lettuce transplanted and preparing to transplant the cucumbers and Cue Ball summer squash that are just now peeping through the soil.  I've found that starting them in pots with potting mix mere feet from the bed they are destined for saves a lot of frustration.  They just germinate better in pots than in the raise bed soil where they kept getting buried too deeply by rain.

Bed #10 Carminat and Monte Gusto Pole Beans seeded 05/22
with Alaska Nasturtium transplants along the sides for ground cover.
I harvested these Nasturtium seeds in 2019 when I cleaned the tomato bed.

Beds #9 Third and Fourth planting of Penelope Peas
with old lettuce seeds scattered down each side.
seeded 04/10 and 04/17

Beds #7 and #8 are the Cauliflower and Cabbage beds pictured above.

Bed #6 Second and Third planting of Penelope Peas w/ Lettuce
seeded 03/29 and 04/10
I carefully spaced the peas at 2 inches in this bed as an experiment. 
Generally I scatter seeds much more thickly

Bed #5 Northern Yellow Xtra-Sweet Hybrid Sweet Corn (sh2)
67 Days  seeded 05/17 

Bed #4 First and Second planting of Penelope Peas w/Lettuce
seeded 03/15 and 03/29

Bed #3 Fordhook 242 Lima Beans (Butter Beans)
seeded 05/21
These started showing yesterday and today I added leaf mulch

Bed #2 Honey 'n Pearl Hybrid Sweet Corn Seed (sh2)
78 days seeded 05/22
It was just starting to poke through this morning before I added some compost

Bed #1 Home to the potato grow bags
This bed had a serious Purslane invasion last year and I'm hoping to smother it.
Varieties from Maine Potato Lady
Satina
Purple Sun
Kennebec
GoldRush Russet
Red Pontiac

The other half of the potatoes back in the original tater patch

Strawberries are appearing

And a baby pear!