How to plant a garden in the mud!

Actually I have no idea how to plant my garden in the mud. We had seven inches of rain last week (week prior to Easter). The ground is saturated. Thankfully the areas of the main garden and onion garden where I have tilled in copious amounts of compost (cotton burr and cow manure) have drained very well. I was able to get some planting done on Saturday (April 23). Sadly, less than a third of my garden is now in the ground. Boxes of seeds are still stacked up in the mud room.

The heirloom tomatoes from Tasteful Garden arrived on Thursday. I was on a mission to get all 35 of them in the ground Saturday.  The plants were robust and healthy.  Nothing like arriving home to six large boxes of plants for the garden. Thankfully the weather held and I was able to get them all in the ground. 

The shallots from my favorite seed company (Johnny’s Selected Seeds) arrived Saturday.  I chose to grow ‘Pikant’ this year. I have a special garden that I set aside for onions, leeks and shallots. It is a sandy loam soil that is amended with a thousand pounds of compost. I ran out of bulk compost and had to purchase fifty pound bags of compost. Thus my aching back can attest to the thousand pound number.  I also planted several rows of leeks, bunch onions and shallot seeds. This is my first year to grow any of them from seed (I always purchased sets) so we will see how it goes.

The pepper plants also arrived and are nestled in their little row of the garden. The plants look fabulous. I can only hope they produce as well as they look.

I am experimenting with cut flowers this year. I ordered the Pro Cut  Gold F1  Sunflower from Harris Seeds. I planted a row in thewide row that will also support our melon crop.  Looking  forward to see how they do in our hot, humid climate.  The fifty tubers of dahlias I ordered from Swan Island Dahlias have all sprouted. I hope to have a row of robust color in a little over two months.

Planted a bit of buckwheat on the fringe of the upper vegetable garden. I was unable to adequately prepare this parcel. I have decided to use a number of cover crops this year to enhance our soils(gumbo clay) tilth.