Spring Planting #1: Year of the Leaf

Determined this year to get a leg up on planting, we trudged down to the Oakhurst community garden and Gardenhood to pick up early Spring plants. The goal was to get some lettuce and kale and chard in the ground. I was fairly well convinced it would not survive. After all, I was planting a week before the final frost was scheduled and if the past is to be any guide, an unscheduled frost would probably follow. The seedlings all looked tender and the roots limpy and fragile. I immediately bought twice what I thought would survive and determined that a 50% survival rate would be a huge bonus. Given that the seedlings were $2.50 for a four pack, this seemed like a good enough bet.

you'll be a big lettuce someday

I planted almost all of it eight days ago--Sunday the seventh. I prepared the beds minimally, turning the soil, breaking up clumps of black and red earth, and adding a good inch or two of compost to each row, which I worked in. The soil is not nearly sandy enough. At its best it was crumbly, but for the most part it was more like moldable clay. I did my best to break it up. The compost did look great. It was all black gold and brimming with worms even in this cold weather. Most of the soil I broke up in the parallel rows was black and healthy looking. A little less so in Maia's plot, where the soil is older and less well cared for. I got the plants in.

The specific lettuce varieties are all marked outside, and I will not produce them here. But in Maia's plot, I planted 17 lettuce plants (four varieties plus one left over from Fall which never died) in the front row, and 8 in the second row. The second row is flanked by chives (third year strong) on the one side, and four sugar snap pea plants on the other.

the tomato row awaiteth

I've left one of the parallel rows covered. I had added compost to these rows two weeks prior during a nice spell. The idea was to have the soil good and worked over by the worms by the time I laid down the tomato plants, which will likely be in mid-April. The second parallel row (where the tomato plants were last year) took two different varieties of Kale and Chard. A total of eight plants, I believe.

The barrier row got a good working over, and is home to some leftover lettuce and kale, as well as broccoli.

Then the frost came. The plants seemed none the worse for wear, and after a week of minimal watering, they still appeared perky and happy in the soil. I was so motivated that I took the remaining eight plants and put them in the ground, in the third row of Maia's plot.

notice empty third row. no longer.

I will continue to monitor the planting, but at present I have an absurd number of lettuce varieties in the ground. We may be looking at thirty plus leaves and at least five different varieties, provided everything survives. I may cut a second barrier row when it is planting time, as well as extend one of the rows in Maia's plot in order to get early cucumbers and zuchini, or squash, or something else to go with all of this.