In The Garden...This and That....

We have had almost nonstop rain for most of the week, but there have been a few breaks here and there when I've been able to put on my heavy rubber boots and get out into the garden.  And a few times when I just put on my foul weather gear and worked with the rain poring down (at one point today I was actually thinking about putting on my scuba gear...I would have been warmer and dryer).  I figure I'd better just go ahead, rain or no rain...this is Washington...it might rain until the middle of July!

First I wanted to share a new feature on my blog...the Paradise Cove Calendar...

Just go to the calendar page (the link is in the side bar to the right), click on the entry for any date and a window will open to show you what I've been doing at home, in the garden, the kitchen or the studio...


And now to update the garden activities for the week ... (since I haven't had time to do anything in the kitchen or studio...and the home is full of dust bunnies.  But the major part of this year's garden intensive is done and I'll be getting back to the rest of my life soon...I promise!)

Last Saturday  I prepared my Yukon Gold and Caribe potatoes for planting, deciding that the Rose Golds needed a few more days of sprouting (chitting) before they were planted.

The Yukon Golds and Caribes were definitely ready.  I dug trenches in The Farm #5, added some compost and chicken manure to the bottom of the trenches and then planted the potatoes in a diamond pattern, three in one row and two in the next...

On the subject of potatoes...

The Desiree's in the first potato box I planted are starting to leaf out ...

 

And the All Blues in the second box are up!  In this box I put the heat mat on top of the soil instead of under the box (the same as I did for the carrots in The Farm #6...which have also sprouted after only 10 days with the heating mats!) ... and the potatoes were up in 6 days!

Today I was out changing the set up and adding more low hoops in The Garden...

I now have three beds that can be covered ...

... and have two of them planted (and a heating cable added in the bed with the tomatoes...which are doing quite well despite being planted a month before our last frost date) ...

Both beds are covered now and can handle rain, hail or wind ... and I'm in my bathrobe in front of the fireplace drying out, since it was just misting a bit when I started this today and the skies opened and poured buckets of rain on me before I finished..gotta love the Pacific Northwest...

Enjoy!