Upcoming plantings

Beans!

The soil is starting to warm up. The communal garden will be planting the beans soon.

Currently, we're in the process of moving Barbara's bean trellis to the garden. Once it's in place, and if the weather continues to cooperate, we can plant the pole beans. We'll also be planting a few kinds of bush beans for a continuous bean harvest.

Check the blog again in the next few days for bean announcements.

Peas

The peas are poking through the ground. They'll be looking for some support to climb. If anyone has some garden sticks, we'd appreciate them. Please let Barbara, Nancy, or Cheryl know.

Watch for birds. They LOVE to eat the tender pea shoots when they first come up. If you notice birds in the pea patch, let Barbara or Nancy know. We'd have to cover the peas immediately. Maybe we'll be lucky - sometimes the birds don't find them.

Pumpkins and dry beans

The pumpkin patch needs a bit more time to solarize so that we're sure the edges of the sod are dead. If you're walking by, please check the pumpkin seedlings sitting beside the pumpkin patch. Make sure they're moist. If they're getting dry, simply dip the pots into the puddle for five minutes, then take them back out again.

In a couple of weeks, we'll remove the plastic, transplant the pumpkins, and plant the dry beans in the pumpkin patch. We'll also be adding some flower seeds.

Mulching

Mulching wasn't worth talking about in the muck and rain of May. But June is usually fairly dry. Unless we're planning to haul a lot of water onto our garden beds, we need to mulch.

Fortunately, we have lots of wood chips handy!

One benefit of mulching is that it prevents the soil from drying out. Another benefit is that it helps the clay soil to loosen up. A third benefit is that over the summer, the wood chips will dry out and become compost. So that's three benefits for the price of one-- and the wood chips were free to start with!

If you're looking for a job to do, please add mulch around the base of each tomato and pepper plant, about 1 foot in each direction. The larger cucumber and squash plants could use some mulch too.

In another week or so, we can mulch the broccoli and peas too. But we need to wait for all the seeds to come up first so that we know where everything is.