We finally got the garden beds mulched and everything just looks so good right now! Here’s the full update on what’s been happening out here.
We used Pennington Premium Long Leaf Pine Straw from Tractor Supply and it was $16.99 per bag. We bought two bags and still had some left over. With one bag we were able to cover all four of our 2×4 foot beds, the herb garden area, the blueberry plant, the strawberry plant, the snapdragons and some of the other plants around the garden. So if you’re thinking about mulching and wondering how many bags you’ll need, just consider the size of your garden and use ours as a reference point. You can also check the package for coverage details and find it in the mulch section at Tractor Supply.
One of the main reasons we wanted to go ahead and mulch was because we noticed the garden beds were drying out and we were concerned about how that would impact the seedlings. So we’re glad we got it done!
Now let’s talk about the new tester bed. If you remember those fence panels we got for free on the side of the road — we turned them into a new garden bed! Because of concerns about chemicals we lined the inside with contractor trash bags before filling it. Since it’s a large bed we didn’t want to fill the whole thing with our best soil and amendments so we started by filling it with some branches and then added the collard green stalks that had gone to seed and were pulled from the other beds. Those would have taken a while to break down in the compost bin anyway. Then we filled it with Miracle Gro All Purpose Garden Soil and Black Velvet mushroom compost. The Miracle Gro was on sale at Lowe’s — buy three get three free — so we’re staying budget friendly even with the tester bed!
In this new bed we have directly seeded sunflowers in two rows, zinnias in two spots, and cosmos in another row. We also transplanted some snapdragons that were growing on the inside and there is a little yarrow growing in there as well.
Inside the main garden the tomato beds are mulched and right now we have tomato seedlings, garlic and marigolds growing together. We also have another tomato bed with peppers, marigolds and garlic. We amended the beds with Black Velvet Mushroom Compost before putting the pine straw down. It was on sale and the reviews were good so we’ll see what it does for us!
The strawberry tower is finally mulched and we are already getting strawberries! We actually needed the mulch pretty urgently over there because the strawberries were touching the soil which was causing them to stay moist and break down. Now that the mulch is in place things should do much better. The blueberry plant is looking good too and we should have some blueberries coming soon!
We transplanted our curly kale and parsley outside because they were not happy on the inside. The herb garden is still a work in progress — rosemary did germinate which we’re excited about but nothing else so far. We went ahead and sprinkled some more seeds and we’ll see what happens. Calendula should be blooming soon and the lavender that’s been growing for a while is still doing its thing.
Our pepper bed is coming together with three different varieties of peppers and marigolds. We’re also thinking about eventually using one of the empty areas to try growing watermelon but we may change our mind on that!
The bachelor buttons are still giving us those beautiful pops of blue, the garlic is still going, and we transplanted some cucumber seedlings out. We have more growing on the inside so we’ll see how the outdoor ones do. The scarlet runner bean is still doing pretty good and the blackberry bush made it through the winter and is looking healthy — blackberries should be coming at some point!
Our daughter’s little garden area is growing too. She has moonflowers and petunias going and she is learning as she grows. We love that for her! 🌱
And finally — stay tuned for the Seed to Bloom series! That new tester bed is going to be a big part of it. The plan is to compare zinnias, sunflowers and cosmos that are directly seeded outside versus ones we transplant from seed started on the inside. We have not had success with directly seeding those outside before so this will be a really interesting comparison for Zone 8A.
As always we are learning as we grow. Chat soon! 🌱