Slugs.

I've noticed a bit of slug damage on the new transplants this week. Last night I went out at sunset to see if I could catch any in the act. I found quite a few right away, so I started picking them up. Pair of pliers and a cup of water with soap (keeps them from climbing out). About 15 minutes later I had swept through the whole garden: 197 slugs.

More transplants

I dug two more raised beds this week and got the brassica seedlings in. I bought some steer manure/compost mix and an all-purpose organic fertilizer and have been incorporating both into the top 6 inches of each bed as I go. Really need some organic matter in this soil.

Kale, kohlrabi, two kinds of cabbage, and broccoli mix, ready to go in.


I'm using wider spacing this year than I have before. I've always been limited by space, so I've used "intensive planting" to fit as much in as possible. Intensive planting can work well, but more plants per square foot means more frequent watering, heavier fertilizing, and smaller plants due to crowding and competition. Now that I have plenty of room, I'm giving each plant plenty of real estate.

First transplantings

I was finally able to get some starts in the ground this weekend. Took some doing though. I've seen deer here a few times and there is an easily identifiable game trail running along the side of the yard past the garden, so a 6' fence deer/orchard fence was necessary. Finished that on Saturday. Saturday was also the day to begin digging my raised beds. They are 30" wide and 25' long, with a 12" (one shovel's-width) path down the middle. That was hard, tiring work and slow going, so I made it through 5 (out of an eventual 12) beds. Two gates built on Sunday finished off the fortifications. Still have to set the split cedar posts and hang the gates, but staked in place they'll keep most things out until I finish.

Makes me sweat just looking at them. Shovelfuls from the path go right on top of the bed, which get smoothed out with a hard rake. This knocks the bigger clumps into the paths and smooths out the bed top, leaving a level and fine seedbed.

Got in the snap and snow peas started 50 days ago, and pricked out my earliest lettuces started at the same time. I have 3 flats of brassicas ready to go in next weekend, and lots of direct seeding to do to get the second round of cool weather veggies started. The garden will look WAY different in about a month!

Flowering fruits

The fruit trees are all in bloom now. Since I've not had them before, it has been interesting to see the blooming sequence of the different fruits and different varieties. Pears first, followed by one variety of cherry, then peach, plums, more cherries, and finally apples (just coming into bloom now).

Here we go.

Ornamental weeping cherry.

Bartlett pear.

Cherry.

Plum.

Apple ready to open.

Native cherry trees in the woods are blooming as well.

Finally!!

We had a work party at our new house this weekend and got so much work done. Most importantly (for this blog anyway), we got the garden rototilled. Went from hard-pan, scrubby grass and weeds, to 12" deep, finely textured soil.


The first pass was the worst; ripping out quack grass, reeds, and all kinds of weeds I can't even identify, was a process.

After 4 passes, with the last at the deepest tilling setting, I'm really happy with the soil tilth. I only found 3 or 4 rocks in the whole garden (!), and no clay deposits, so that is good. I can tell already that what is really lacking is organic materials. Some manure and compost would go a long way. I am planning on sending off a soil sample to my local extension office for a soil report, which will tell me the current chemical makeup of my soil, which will help me determine what I need to do this year to make the soil healthier for the future.

Before we bought the house I researched the soil composition from this awesome government website. You can zone in on your exact piece of land (at least where I live) and get a full report on the soil in that area.

Here are the results for our 5 acres:

Whatcom County Area, Washington

179—​Whatcom silt loam, 3 to 8 percent slopes

Map Unit Setting

• Elevation: 50 to 600 feet
• Mean annual precipitation: 35 to 50 inches
• Mean annual air temperature: 48 to 52 degrees F
• Frost-​free period: 150 to 190 days

Map Unit Composition

• Whatcom and similar soils: 85 percent
• Minor components: 8 percent

Description of Whatcom

Setting

• Landform: Hillslopes
• Parent material: Volcanic ash and loess over glaciomarine deposits

Properties and qualities

• Slope: 3 to 8 percent
• Depth to restrictive feature: More than 80 inches
• Drainage class: Moderately well drained
• Capacity of the most limiting layer to transmit water (Ksat): Moderately low to moderately high (0.06 to 0.20 in/hr)
• Depth to water table: About 18 to 36 inches
• Frequency of flooding: None
• Frequency of ponding: None
• Calcium carbonate, maximum content: 5 percent
• Available water capacity: Very high (about 12.7 inches)

Interpretive groups

• Land capability classification (irrigated): 3w
• Land capability (nonirrigated): 3w

Typical profile

• 0 to 9 inches: Silt loam
• 9 to 16 inches: Silt loam
• 16 to 26 inches: Loam
• 26 to 60 inches: Loam"

And there's WAY more information than that. Very interesting and useful website.