Spring Garden Update: Week 2
Last week Mason and I wiped the fire ants out from our garden. On Wednesday after work I filled the garden up with the kids. I loosened the soil and then worked in four bags of mushroom compost. By the time I was finished the soil was nice and rich.
In the front of our little garden we planted a zucchini and a yellow squash. Behind the squashes we planted (from left to right) a Black Prince and three Early Girl tomato plants. Behind those we planted (from left to right) a Brandywine and three Celebrity tomato plants. We also potted another Early Girl.
Planting with the kids was a challenge. Julia was content to fling dirt onto the ground while Mason filled up every hole I dug for a plant. He thought it was hilarious to push all the soil back into the holes while I worked a plant out of its biodegradable container. I have a new found understanding of how patient my aunts were to let me help them “garden” when I was his age.
In total we have two squash plants and eleven tomato plants. I think that I planted them early enough that I should get a decent amount of each. Nothing else to do but water them every day and fertilize when needed!
This sounded about like a day trying to plant with my kids. Any gardening tips? I need help!!!!
Ha! It is a challenge to garden with kids! They thought it was a blast to sling dirt out of our bed.
Gardening tips? Not sure where you live, but you can’t go wrong with water and plenty of fertilizer!
I hope I’m wrong, but I’ve been told by several gardeners that mushroom compost is pretty harsh – apparently it’s way too high in some nutrients and it can burn your garden. Here’s a link you can read for yourself:
http://extension.oregonstate.edu/gardening/mushroom-compost-use-carefully
Good luck with your urban gardens!
Thank you for the link! I have heard the same thing if you use it without cutting it with top soil. Some people around where I live use 75/25 mushroom compost to soil. I use 50/50 or less and have not had any problems so far.
Great! I’m glad you’ve found the right mix. It would be so sad to put all that work in and have the plants die!
Exactly! I actually erred too much on the side of caution in my winter garden. I did not have enough nutrients in the soil and my plants suffered. Termites eating my broccoli didn’t help either.
LOL – we had some kind of worm eat our brussels sprouts last year…dang those suck! Good luck with your garden. I’ll keep checking back; thanks for sharing!