April, Week 4

RuthAnn’s Weekly Garden Diary

Documenting Progress and Reflections in the Garden

My attempt to document the planting, growth, harvesting, and preserving of our family’s 8000 square feet of garden.

Northeast Iowa Gardening in growing zone 4

Last frost date May15, First frost date September 15

April, Week 4

In week 4, two sunny, windy days at 80 degrees dried the soil, making it ideal for
planting and cleanup.

Tasks I worked on:

Removed the protective covers from the blueberry bushes. We cover them in the wintertime to prevent rabbits and dear from nibling them down. Here are the covers we use: https://amzn.to/3ONB9BR . I also sprinkled ¼ cup of sulfur chips around each bush to help lower the Ph of our soil. Our soil, on average, is around 7-9 on the Ph scale and blueberries need the soil to be between 4 & 6. While a soil Ph of 7-9 is great for corn and beans it is not so great for blueberries. But before you rush out and purchase a Ph test kit there a couple of ways to know your soil Ph without purchasing anything.

If you live where pine trees grow naturally, reseed themselves, and thrive, then you very likely can grow blueberries without any special effort. Because pines and blueberries love the same soil Ph. In our area, any pines that you see have been cultivated by man.
If your blueberry bushes consistently have yellow leaves instead of green, even after fertilizing, it may indicate that your soil is too alkaline. Alkaline soil can block blueberries from absorbing essential nutrients from both the soil and any fertilizers you apply. Clay soil is another reason your blueberries might appear yellow after fertilization. Because blueberries have extremely delicate, hair-like roots, they thrive in light, airy soils such as peat. Even in Iowa, where clay soil isn’t common, we still add bags of peat to our blueberry beds to ensure healthy growth.

I cleared some more of the garden, raking off last season’s sweet potato vines making room for planting more cold crops.

What I Planted

10 gm. spinach (Bloomsdale)
10 gm. lettuce blend *for cut lettuce
3.5 gm. red beets (Detroit Dark Red)
3.5 gm carrots (Tender Sweet)
5 lbs. Russet Potatoes *for fresh eating
5 lbs. Yukon Gold potatoes *for fresh eating
1-pound yellow onion sets
50 sweet onions (Purple Candy)
50 sweet onions (Walla Walla)

Seedlings I Planted

8 head lettuce, (Ithica) heat tolerant variety
8 head lettuce (Butter Crunch)
4 cabbage (Stone Head) short season for early eating
4 broccoli (Emerald Crown)

I added compost from our cow manure compost pile around all the seedlings and then topped with grass clippings as a weed barrier.

I also covered the red raspberry bed with a thick layer of compost.

The red potatoes (red Norland) that I planted on April 1^st have finally sprouted. I am anxious to see how many of them will sprout and how many of them have rotted.

Notes:

To maintain a healthy microbiome, soil needs to be covered. As we near summer, temperatures rise, and the heat of the sun can bake the top layer of soil and greatly hinder the soil microbiome. As I look at the grass and Creeping Charlie trying to creep in from the edge of the garden, the tiny sprouts of weeds peeping through in other areas of the garden, I am amazed at how the earth insists on being covered.

As the gardener, how can I cover 8,000 square feet of soil before weeds take over and consume the nutrients intended for the crops that will nourish my family?

Most of the early crops will get a layer of compost for nitrogen, soil amending, and for boosting the soil microbiome. On top of the compost, we will add a thick layer of grass clippings that we have collected from our untreated yard. The thick layer of grass clippings will act as a weed barrier, keeping any weed seeds from receiving enough light for sprouting. In addition, covering the soil helps maintain a consistent moisture level and protects the soil microbiome. Other crops like sweet corn, squash and sweet potatoes will create a shade canopy and cover the earth their own way.

Reflections

As my toes sank into the freshly tilled soil of the garden my mind started wandering to the gardens of my childhood. My family would till the soil of our Pennsylvania garden each spring before planting. I have vivid memories of playing in freshly tilled soil with my siblings while Mom and Dad sowed long rows of corn, peas and potatoes. Fast forward to my adult life, my own garden, and social media. When I shared my joy in freshly tilled soil online, ‘gardening experts’ from all over the USA shamed me for tilling my soil, telling me that I was ruining my soil. I was adequately confused. If tilling ruined soil, how had my family, and now I, been successfully raising thousands of pounds of fruits and veggies for many decades? This is a great example of the saying “the proof is in the pudding,’ or in this case, “the proof is in the jars and freezers.” While this online shaming did inspire me to learn more about soil health, and soil microbiome, I also learned how much soil can differ from one region to another. And because of what I learned about soil health, I no longer till as frequently throughout the year to manage weeds as I used to. I now prefer tilling once in the spring before planting and then covering the soil as thoroughly as possible with organic matter to add nutrients and microbes and create a weed barrier. I do, however, still consider my rototiller to be one of my most essential gardening tools, despite what ‘gardening experts’ on the internet try to shame me into.

Just as soil must be covered for its microbiome to flourish, my heart’s spiritual soil also needs protection, particularly through prayer. If I try to nurture a strong spiritual microbiome in my heart without the protection of prayer, I become vulnerable, and the gifts meant to grow there may fail to take root and flourish.