Getting the garden ready for planting

My big tractor is broke so I had to resort to using my trusty old rototiller. I've been using this tiller since high school. It gets the job done just takes a little more effort. Today I got about a third of the main garden turned. This part of the garden is where we plant our cucumbers, beans, melons/pumpkins, cabbage, herbs, zucchini and a few others. We use the companion planting guide from Mother Earth News.

Main Garden

Tomato, Pepper and Onion Patch

I also got our tomato, pepper and onion patch turned up. We won't be planting the tomatoes and peppers until after memorial day. The onions should have been in the ground already but I'm running slightly behind. We will end up planting the onions around the exterior of this patch as it helps keep out the pests.

In between the tomatoes and peppers we plant marigolds and basil. The marigolds keep the root nematodes and horned tomato worms away. The basil helps combat many of the same pests but also works for aphids and houseflies. Some say the basil makes the tomatoes taste better and I agree. I'm not sure how it works but you can tell the difference in a tomato grown near basil and one that wasn't. Here is the patch where we plant all this stuff.

Fruit trees

This is my poor plum tree. It's way to overgrown and needs a good trimming. It's too late in the season to start cutting it right now but will be done in the late fall. We also have 2 different kinds of apples and 3 pear trees. Those will be in upcoming posts.

Plum trees look so beautiful when in bloom. After that the Japanese beetles take over and eat anything it produces. I'm not one to use chemicals to keep them away. Every year we experiment with new formulas to keep them away. So far the dish soap and water seems to work decent. One day I would like to actually harvest plums from this tree.

And last but not least is my favorite bush. It's a gooseberry bush. It's still very small and only produced one berry last year. We had one at our house growing up and they were so good. The fruit looks much like a grape sized watermelon and is said to tasty like a sour grape. I think they taste fantastic and can't wait until this bush is large enough to produce a usable amount. Here is what it looks like.

After I get the rest of the garden tilled I can start working on our raised beds filled with different types of mint (You know...for Mojitos). I've also still got to get the virgin ground broke for our expanded corn and potato area. We should have a good deal of produce this year to can, dehydrate or preserve.

I hope you enjoyed my ramblings about the garden. I'll have much more as the growing season progresses.

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