First Crop

My original plan for the garden was to plant it out in lettuce in the early spring. I had this grand plan to succession plant a bed every 2 weeks in order to harvest lettuce for sale up until I put the tomato plants in the ground after Derby weekend (that's the sweet spot out here in Kentucky when most are confident of no more frosts).

Turns out plans can be altered even if you don't want them to. I transplanted my first bed of romaine at the end of March and seeded a second bed that same week. Then I forgot to start a new tray of lettuce every week (might have had something to do with the 300 tomato plants I was starting from seed at home).  The transplanted Romaine grew beautifully and I sold my first harvest of heads last week. Side note- I am selling my produce through Louisville Grows' Urban Growers Cooperative we just started this year.  The seeded bed of Romaine was spotty (mostly due to clumpy soil) with only about 30% germination and I ended up selling some 'baby' romaine heads but am not sure what my plan is for the rest that has grown past baby stage but is too close together to become heads. Good news is I am selling the rest of the Romaine this week (to Wiltshire Bakery, Farm to Fork Catering, and Harvest Restaurant).

(Gotta love the foggy lens on the iPhone pic, whoops)

New Name, New Garden

Sorry for the extremely long lapse in posts. I was so hesitant to post anything on the blog since I moved to Louisville, KY in September and hadn't yet changed the name of the blog. Ridiculous, I know!

This year brings a new city and a new garden! I am working with Louisville Grows and through that connection have access to a 1/10 acre market garden all to myself! The garden is located on the same lot as Louisville Grows' Shippingport Memorial Community garden. The great thing about taking on this space as my first market garden is that I am in a space where other people are gardening and I have access to tools and other supplies I need to get the garden growing.

View of my garden beyond the picnic tables

Children's Garden Space

My biggest challenge is that the garden is a no-till garden, meaning instead of preparing the beds in the garden by tilling the soil or double-digging the beds (my preference), I just layer on mulch (leaves, compost, grass clippings, etc.) to continue building up a top layer of organic materials in which to plant. I inherited the garden from someone that set it up last year but this is the first year it has been worked. I fear my summer will be spent weeding crab grass but it is an interesting approach to gardening and will be a good challenge.

I had planned to plant it out with lettuce for the spring and managed to get in a bed of Romaine a few weeks ago and another bed of another green lettuce called Deer Tongue and a red lettuce variety called Flame a few days ago. So just a few heads of lettuce but it is a good first planting for me.

In a week I am planting a couple hundred tomato plants and seeding a bed of basil so this summer I can spend my days smelling of tomatoes and basil. There is nothing better!

Here is a pic of the garden itself. I am working on creating a border of cardboard ad wood chips around the garden to keep the grass back. I did one side but am learning I need a thicker border cause that grass found a way in!