The Patchwork Kitchen Garden: Season Two
Week Two: Blooms and Potatoes
Week two in the garden has been very eventful. The Phloxes are starting to bloom, little sprouts are starting to appear and the potatoes have been planted into the ground. Yes, everything is right in my little gardening world and I’m right on track for some bountiful late spring, early summer harvests. The only thing that could put me off track at this point is the weather.
In NEPA, we’ve had a very rainy April. Of course, the rain is wonderful for my spring flowers but if I get too much it could mean disaster for any of the precious seedlings that are just starting to emerge. We need a good balance of wet and dry days but right now I feel like the rainy days are outnumbering the sunny ones.
The lack of sunny weather is probably the cause of my tulips not blooming still. I have buds on all except for one that sadly lost its battle with the wind this week. Anyway, none of my tulips want to open, which is a real pity. They are supposed to be this stunning coral color but instead it’s just a sea of green. I will just have to sit and patiently wait, someday they will open hopefully before the wind gets the rest.
But as I wait for my tulips to bloom, I can enjoy the flowers that are starting to bloom in my front garden. My Creeping Phloxes just started to bloom this week and I can’t wait until they are in full bloom in the coming week. They are one of my favorite flowers and it’s a true sign that spring is in full swing.
It’s the blooming of the Phlox that said that the soil should be warm enough to finally plant my potatoes, so that’s exactly what I did.
I dug my trench, laid down a layer of leaf compost and placed my sprouted potatoes in covering them with more soil, compost and topping it all with a layer of straw. The inclusion of leaf compost will hopefully help to get a high yield at harvest time. Only time will tell and we must wait for the potatoes to sprout and die off before we can find out.
Well, that’s all I have for this week. I’ll just be trying to coax my tulips and watch my veggie sprouts grow. To give the garden a peek, check out the gallery down below. Until next week, Happy Gardening!
