Finally had a nice weekend, probably the first since about last September. “Surely he jests,” you’re thinking, but no. And looking at the forecast, we may have four straight days without precipitation. Four days? In a row? I think we had maybe four days without rain the entire month of April.
On a more serious note, the sun and relative warmth have been good for most of my growing things. Fruit is all looking pretty good, though I think I need to lower the pH some more for the blueberries. Spinach, carrots, beets, and onions are all up and doing well. Lettuce is up but is still pretty shrimpy – I’m doing staggered plantings every two weeks, but have directly sown everything, and I’m not sure how the lettuce is liking that. I think for the next round, I may start the lettuce inside and transplant it after it germinates. Peas are also coming on strong, and I really need to get my trellises up. As far as trellises go, I was going to build a basic 4′ x 4′ x 4′ (approx.) frame, and attach some nylon netting. However, I was going to build these out of galvanized steel pipe, but I’d need about 20 them, with three pieces of pipe per trellis, and at $10 a pop for each 4 foot section of pipe, that adds up pretty quickly, to, oh, about… $600, which is a little more than I was budgeting for trellises. (I knew that math major would come in handy someday – thanks mom and dad!) So now I’m leaning towards 1″ or 1 1/2″ PVC, which is not as strong but cheaper, and it probably doesn’t need to be super strong for peas and beans. For the heavier stuff like squash, I’m definitely going to go steel, but I’m going to try to make do with the PVC for now.
I’m also thinking about planting some more things this weekend, probably beans, maybe a couple zucchini? We’re getting pretty close to the last frost date, and you know how four nice days tend to mess with your mind when you’re itching to plant.
Two questions today: What kind of trellis do you use (if you use anything) for climbing plants? Permanent, semi-permanent? And, have you planted anything besides the typical cool-weather crops?
Two answers: All my trellises are made of bamboo, because we have a large stand of bamboo and I’m all about the free stuff. They are also all removable, because crop rotation is really important. Of course, then they do have to be put up every year, which is a total drag, but eh. Gardening involves a lot of unfun along with the fun.
Warm weather stuff? What? In upstate New York? HAHAHAHA. No. Not until Memorial Day traditionally. I sometimes cheat with Walls o’ Water to get my tomatoes in a little earlier, but I would never put them out unprotected.
Happy Spring!