Busy weekend of spring planting and transplanting

lettuce seedling + takeaway box …

= larger, healthier lettuce :)

We've just reached the first moon phase (half moon, a week after the new moon) and all the weeds are back! It's also the best time now to grow leafy vegetables and other annuals.

We visited our plot two times this weekend, on both Saturday and Sunday, which is more than usual. Below is a summary of the things we achieved... over probably 4 or 5 hours in total. It would be so much easier if our plot was in our backyard but right now it's about 25 mins drive to our home. That will change soon once we've moved to our new home, which is only 5 mins drive away. Can't wait!

So, on Saturday:

1. Pulled out most broad beans, leaving one row and the edges for harvesting in a few weeks time (Bed 2)
2. Dug out weeds (grasses) from around trellis area
3. Transplanted our large beans and many snow peas (looking forward to crunchy fresh stir frys in around November/December!)
4. Watered transplants with seasol water
5. Harvested kale (a birthday present for a friend) and lettuce (used for dinner party that night)
6. Harvested beetroot. Really looking forward to eating this again. It was so delicious last time we had it.

On Sunday (today):

1. Did more weeding: a never ending job! We should have done it about a week ago when it was the best time to do it according to the moon planting calendar)
2. Sowed seeds of various brassicas: bok choi, mibuna, komatsuna.
3. Also planted some mizuna (a lettuce family plant?), in the same patch.
4. We protected these seeds in about 10–12 take-away containers because we found that lettuce grew much better with it. Not only does it probably stop frost from killing the seedlings, but it keeps moisture in and acts like a greenhouse, increasing the temperature. See the photo of the lettuce plant that was grown under a container over winter, compared to the other plans that didn't get such treatment!
5. Scattered many handfuls of barley and green manure seeds into Bed 2 (the old pumpkin plot, and in the spaces where the broad beans were growing until yesterday). Barley is said to be a good green manure crop that's best planted and dug in just tomatoes.
6. Green manure mix went into Bed 4 (beside our brassicas) to put some nutrients back in and also prevent weeds from taking over again.
7. Forgot to plant our lettuce, endives, and coriander! Oh no. We'll have to do it at the wrong time (good chance to experiment and see whether moon planting really has a noticeable effect on the sprout rate).

Below are some photos of our plot from Saturday. I'm very happy with the progress of our garlic and artichokes in particular; both look very healthy and strong. They did so well over winter. Now it's spring and their growth is really accelerating.

broad beans before trimming

broad beans massacre! Making space for barley
(another green manure crop) before tomatoes

kale is getting lovely and big; we can't finish eating this

no signs of flowers but the 6 plants are all healthy and strong

garlics are nice and tall—I wonder how the bulbs are going …

alpine strawberry plant grew a lot of leaves but no fruit;
perhaps due to too much nitrogen leeching out from the
sheep manure bag that I stored right beside the plant! 

white polystyrene boxes used to reduce frosting of our
purple climbing beans and snow peas, on either side of trellis

purple climbing bean transplanted