Reseeded second row.

Pulled off the mulch and reseeded the second row.    Sowed spinach and broadcast lettuce and carrots.  It won't be long after sprouting that the spinach and lettuce bolt as it gets hot, at which point the carrots will take over.

This is essentially the same thing I ended up doing last year after attempting to direct seed through the mulch.  So I'm concluding that for the best chances of success only transplants can be planted through the mulch.  For seed the mulch has to be pulled off.


The future home of yummy sweet potatoes.  Hopefully slips will be available next weekend.

The deer ate the tops off these onions last season, but now they came back.  I pulled up one and it didn't have much of a bulb at all.  I've seen no signs of bolting though so I'm just letting them go to see what happens.

The spuds have their eyes on me.

A GREAT day for working in the garden!

I decided to go ahead and plant some potatoes for a fall harvest and to store for winter.  I've never grown them before, but seeing as they try to grow all on their own in my cupboard, I figure it can't be that hard.

Red potatoes

White potatoes

They went in the fourth row set I put in last fall.  Just straw (or what might actually be hay, grumble) layered about a foot deep on top of grass clippings.  All the grass beneath was killed off with everything at the soil almost completely decomposed.  The lower layers of straw were extremely moist and gooey with some mushrooms found, and an ant colony.  I think this means there wasn't sufficient airflow to get a strong decomposition going.

Pulling back the straw I placed the seed potatoes on the ground and recovered with a couple inches of the wettest straw, not too thick as the potatoes had already sprouted.  After the growth breaks through the  surface a bit I'll add more straw, repeating this cycle a couple of times.  The spuds should all grow up and fill the straw with starchy goodness.


The Deer Defense Grid is also in place.  Hard to tell in the photo, I used the old fence to form arches over the first row, capping both ends.

The groundhog can always go under it, and I'll deal with that if it becomes a problem.  But for now this should prevent the deer from browsing on the young cabbage and chard.

Still no sign of the spinach or lettuce.  I'm thinking I might have to just pull the mulch off and reseed the second row as I did the first.  But, it does look like my blueberry bushes made it through winter!

I see super fresh blueberries in my, and quite possible some lucky deer's, future!

Hay is NOT straw!

Given the number of freshly sprouted weeds I'm pulling from my rows, I'm concluding that the person who sold me my straw bales in fact sold me hay bales.  Irritating!

Hay is NOT straw!

Straw is the remnant stalks from a grain harvest.  The grains are harvested and once the stalks die off and dry they are collected and baled.  There is little if any seed present.

Hay is for livestock feeding.  It is often full of seed as it is grown and harvested specifically to provide food for grain-fed animals.

I had found a small vegetable stand that also sold organic straw bales from an in-state Amish community.  Unfortunately they don't seem to have reopened their stand this year.  I guess this means I have to track down a new source for quality straw.

Meet Phil.

Meet Phil.  Please, no comments about his weight.  He's very sensitive, and fat.

Rows 1 and 2 seeded

Pulled off the mulch and seeded row 1 with swiss chard and cabbage.

Seeded row 2 with spinach through holes in mulch.  Broadcast seeded lettuce.  Rain later today should settle the seed down.

Still plotting a fence system.  Currently thinking of using the old fence in sections to form arches over the row similar to the row cover and securing to metal rods.  Row 3 is getting sweet potatoes.  The deer love them but for those I'm going to try just putting a fabric row cover directly on top of the plants.