It was a warm weekend for us in the Willamette Valley. Warm days with filtered sunlight and some of the first nights around 50 degrees have converted our gardens from seedlings to vegetating plants. Our seedlings are growing well. In Linden, the soil has much less straw and the seedlings are growing faster. We used cardboard for sheet mulching in Linden. In Silverton (which is a bit colder on average than Linden) the seedlings are still emerging. The peas in both locations look great and I am expecting some bigger plants by the end of the week. The weather is looking pretty good and I won't have to water this week. I am hopeful for some decent spring crops unless the deer get them in Silverton. I have got to get that deer fence up!
I believe most of the crops should be ready by mid May and into June. In May we will be harvesting most of our garden space. All of the food will be cooked in the scratch kitchens and what is not cooked will be used for investigation with the children. We will be replanting the beds with summer crops like beans, tomatoes, cucumber, squash etc. The children just had a lab lesson and scavenger hunt last week. We did a lab observing plants as they rested in different colored water in pots. This week we will be studying 6 plants in differing conditions exploring water variables, light variables, and nutrient variables. There will be extensions throughout this lesson to follow the children's interests. We are also beginning the grow and eat your salad project again. It is a short month long lesson involving growing salad in small pots with our OPK programs. At the harvest, the teachers and children make several salad dishes and serve them to each other. Our seedlings from ACS seem to be doing well. They are starting a long term hardening off process by visiting the harshness of life outside the greenhouses several times a week. At this stage in the year, our greenhouses are producing plants that will be too big for our resources and space. It is a good thing May is around the corner.
What should you be planting out there: Get out there and start planting some carrots, radish, beets, chards, salads, mustard greens, kale, asian greens and cabbages, broccoli, cauliflour, and cabbage. Keep what you can but save some space for your bigger crops like tomatoes and squashes.
Good things: Salads and onions enjoy growing close. I have seen carrots and green onions do well together too.
Stay away from this: Don't plant your onions next to your beans or peas.
Idea for the day: Got some extra sod? Got some extra materials around the garden? Why don't you make a mud structure. Mud structures can provide a lot of fun for any garden. Mud structures can be anything from small huts to giant faces. I am hoping to build structure for Silverton out of removed sod and extra rocks. I will be building a simple living tower. It will end up looking like a mudman (like a snowman but with mud instead of snow) and have plants growing for details like the face and hair.
The pics above are from a trip to the Tulip Festival. The children were all smiles the whole time. What a fun experience.
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