First work of the year

Over the past few weeks, I've started to get out into the garden and get some work done.

The first thing I had to do was repair the greenhouse so I could get some seedlings started. The plastic covering did not hold up to the weather over the winter and had split and come open in multiple places. I repaired it with packing tape and am planning on working out a more permanent fix before next winter.

It doesn't zip up as well as it used to, but I can close off the top shelf and that seems to be enough to keep it warm. In the flat, I've planted tomato, tomatillo, eggplant, cumin, spinach and three kinds of chilli pepper. So far, only the spinach has sprouted.

The next job was to get my peas and potatoes planted. I turned this bed in the fall, but various weeds and grasses had taken over, forcing me to hoe it up again. The peas are planted in two rows on either side of the twine trellis running along the length of the bed. The potatoes are in the near area that's been worked. This is my first time trying potatoes.

This past week, I've moved on to planting some herbs and greens. My plan is to work 1/4 of my original garden area every two weeks, so I'll have a staggered harvest. When it warms up, I'll plant the purira peppers, the tomatillos, the eggplant and the cumin into whatever spaces I can find. The spinach will have to go out sooner and the tomatoes and other chillies will go into the garden on the other side of the house.

Over the past week, I've turned this area several times. Yesterday, I worked a good amount of compost into it and got a small bed of carrots planted in the upper left-hand corner. Today, I laid in a short row each of red onion, chinese cabbage, spinach, orach, cilantro, and calendula. Since it was raining, I'm not sure how successful this planting was. The seeds clumped up on me and were hard to spread right. Also, the clay soil didn't allow me to cover them like I would've preferred. When it dries up, I'll make sure the onion sets are covered properly. As for the seeds, I'll just have to wait and see. When the ground's dry later this week, I'll plant more of the same crops, continuing down the left hand side of the garden. In the circle, I'm planning on mixing dill and nigella.

I'm really enjoying the rosemary flowers and will try and postpone cutting it back as long as possible: