Update

Here's an update:

Tomatoes: Huge, fruiting like mad. Pulled Glory out because it looked sickly. Have been pruning suckers constantly. Can't wait to eat them!
Borage: blooming!
Cilantro: tasty, letting one flower so I can save seeds
Arugula: trying to figure out how to save seeds from my one huge flowering plant that I have left.
Sweet potatoes: planted
Basil: Thriving
Cucumbers: Growing, starting to get big.
Peppers: Some starting to flower
Green beans: flowering like crazy, at least the first batch
Lettuce: Delicious, delicious
Broccoli: Tasty, but the worms are annoying to pick off
Malabar spinach: Still small
Melons: all varieties planted, with Amy and both watermelons sprouted. Minnesota Midget never grew. Crane, Hale's Best, and Banana seeds just planted a couple of days ago.
Squash: Scallop and spaghetti planted and sprouted.
Cabbages: Huge, forming heads.
Carrots: also tasty, harvested all but the tiny ones, getting too hot. I can't believe I finally grew some carrots!

All trees and bushes planted are going strong, including that raspberry bush I was worried about. I am happy Oliver didn't kill them by pulling them up.

I love eating fresh salad greens. LOVE LOVE LOVE it.

I am really anticipating my tomatoes and peppers and can't wait to taste them.

Broccoli heads!

Well, my broccolis have really started making heads. I don't know if its too late for them, if they'll be ready to harvest in time... My heat-tolerant lettuce is growing in well. I'll just know from now on that I've got to constantly be making little plantings of lettuce. (Or starting it inside).

I did some major tomato pruning today, pruning off some rather large suckers. I hated to do it, but I planted my tomatoes so close together that I kind of had to. Hopefully, I didn't damage the plants. It looks much less like a jungle there. I do wish I hadn't planted my tomatoes so close together, and had interplanted them with other crops, but next year I'll do it a little differently.

I started three types of basils very early (back in February) with the intention of setting them outside on warm days and bringing them in at night. Well, it was annoying to bring them in. The purple basil is doing great, but the other two basils (long-leaf Italian and cinnamon) seem to be permanently stunted. I'm going to replace them with flowers (zinnias or bachelors button probably). Basil does great out in the garden beds, so I doubt I'll do too much container basil growing after the purple flowers.

My sage flowered on the back porch, and the purple flowers were absolutely gorgeous. Didn't get a lot of blooms, but the ones we've had so far have been very impressive.

Did I write about how I almost killed my Greek Oregano plant by leaving it on the front porch in its peat pot and not watering it one day? It looked horribly wilted and dead, but after I brought it in and watered it, it perked up over the next hours and days, and I only lost a couple of stems. I potted it in the largest container I had and then got a 12" clay pot (when they came back in stock in the stores) and put it in that, to be its permanent home.

My nasturtium hanging baskets have enough growth that I'm ready to get them hung on our front porch.

plant overload

More and more thing have been planted. My sweet potato sets came, at about the right time for my area, and they are in the ground. I planted cumin and parlsley seeds.

I started indoors anaheim peppers, mild jalapenos, okra, and more basil. Right now, pretty much all of my beds are completely taken up, which is as it should be. I hope I'll have a patch free up in a week or so, so that I can plant some more bush beans.

But everything seems to be mostly going well. My tomato plants have begun to flower. I'm wondering if I should now start some more tomato seeds, so that we'll have some fresh plants for late in the season?

One of my raspberry bushes has not come out of dormancy, which concerns me. I hope it does. The other 2 are fine, and my 3 blackberry bushes are looking good.

I put mulch mats around my persimmon tree, which is leafing and looking beautiful, as well as my crape myrtles and forsythia. I now only have one forsythia because Tim ran over the other one with the lawn mower! That's okay. It was hard to see.

I planted shasta daisies around one of my Rose of Sharons. I wanted to plant them around both bushes, but I didn't have nearly enough. I will plant white cosmos around the other one this season.

Still enjoying lettuce and arugula, although my last batch of arugula is probably not going to hold of from flowering for long. I will look forward to it again this fall.

My borage is growing. Both Isaac & I tried the leaves, which supposedly tastes like cucumbers. They do... Like fuzzy, weird cucumbers. I don't plan on using it in salads! The taste is fine, but the texture is just weird. Maybe the flowers will taste better.

We also planted white scallop squash today and watermelons (everglade hybrid and malali) the other day. As far as the other melons, still waiting on Minnesota Midget to make an appearance, but Amy hybrid seems to be doing good.

spring woes

Had a salad for lunch and a salad for dinner. There will be no lettuce ready for tomorrow, though. Possibly none for a week or two. This is why lettuce must be started every 7-10 days. Still have the 2nd patch of arugula that has not gone to seed, thankfully. Next year, there will be much more lettuce.

Isaac & I planted more bush beans today (mon petite cheri).

I'll be happy when the sweet potatoes get here, and I know how much space I'm going to use for them. They will be there for a while.

I'm a little disappointed about my broccoli.

I attempted to prune suckers off my tomatoes today. I think I did it mostly right. Next year, it will be easier.

So ready for the summer vegetables to start producing.

Brassicas suck as much as bras do. I think I hate them both.

Need to start more basil.

Tomatillos germinating.

Isaac and I snacked on dill and cilantro today in the garden. It was very peaceful.

more plantings

I planted more heat-resistent lettuce (broke out the Park Seed Summer Glory Blend) today on the far right end of the bed next to my asparagus. I also planted my baby corns (bonus). I do have lettuce coming in, the Burpee heat wave, but it has been germinating very slowly, and I wanted to see if the Park blend did any better. I'm addicted to homegrown salads!

Not sure how excited I am about the baby corn. I put it in my garden schedule to plant every 10 days, but it takes up a lot of space. I think I'll just see how much space I have once my sweet potato slips come, and then plant more baby corn if I have room.

I'm finding that I have space to grow more plants than I realized. I do get nervous about bugs and diseases attacking my beautiful tomatoes. I wish I had interplanted them with other kinds of plants more.

I ordered seeds from Nichols Garden Nursery yesterday, some okra, anaheim peppers, mild janapenos, and some greens to plant this fall (mustard, claytonia).

Investigating options for winter gardening. Should I make a hoop frame with metal stakes and PVC pipe and put a frost blanket over that?

The first melons and cucumbers have sprouted. I'll plant my watermelons this weekend.

I do feel kind of impatient for more things to be ready to harvest! It will be June probably before I get much else. Next year, I think I can have a lot more success by using some technology to protect my plants from the cold springs we have here that so quickly turn hot.

salads

We've had some great lettuce and arugula salads lately. Tim's also been buying bell peppers to cut up in them. In a couple of months, we'll have our own bell peppers too! I've been sowing heat resistent lettuce, but not much of it has germinated yet. I'm afraid we may have a couple of weeks with no/few greens, which makes me sad. I'm finding that it's really important to keep sowing them once a week. It will be easier next year. This year was just so crazy what with all the beds getting put in. I do wish I'd started more lettuce inside, even before we got the beds/dirt.

I just love growing salad greens. It's so convenient. And so much fun to go out to the garden and pick them right before a meal.

I think we are going to get a few carrots. I hope so. I like carrots. I will try again this fall if they don't turn out.

I have plans to save seeds from many of the vegetables in my garden. Arugula, dill, cilantro, beans, anything that I'm only growing one variety of, that isn't a hybrid, and that doesn't cross-pollinate easily, and that is relatively convenient. Tomatoes, peppers, squash, pumkpins, and melons I'll just have to buy when I need them.

I planted the seeds I saved from my cosmos last year, which was cool. I will have a lot more confidence when they germinate. I remember feeling so overwhelmed when I read about seed saving last year. (Oh great, another hippy thing I have to learn to do), but it seems pretty easy for a lot of vegetables and saves a little money. I hope to give some seeds away to friends.

I did take some pictures but haven't uploaded them yet. Some of my tomatoes look like they are going to start flowering soon.

I have put fertilizer pot shots in all my perennial herb pots, except the ones just planted this year. I put about half the recommended amount since herbs aren't heavy feeders.

We planted dwarf runner bean hestia in the earthbox. I thought the beans would be pretty on the front porch.

garden update

Well, over the past several days I've planted basil seedlings (including the ones Isaac & planted together in his bed), more lettuce, cilantro, bush beans. My malabar spinach is coming up. I planted cucumbers. 4/31 we planted 2 varieties of melon, Minnesota Midget and Amy Hybrid.

I found out (from my Heirloom Gardener magazine) that tomatillos have to be planted near one of their own kind in order to set fruit. So, it seems that last year the problem wasn't so much that I was late getting started, just that I grew only one. It pained me to do so, but I pulled up the tomatillo I had planted and started seeds for two more, which I will plant together.

Really enjoying our lettuce and arugula salads. They are so fresh. It's great not to have to eat the greens out of the bag. I got Tim to whip up the oil and vinegar dressing we used to enjoy in California (where we had an awesome grocery store, Jimbo's). The dressings we had been using mask the taste of the greens too much. I need dressings that you can taste the greens through now!

I don't know how some of my vegetables have handled the three days of 90-degree heat we got. My tomatoes seem very happy, as do my peppers, but the broccoli and cabbage seemed to like it much less. I also think my lettuce and arugula turned a tad bitter but still better than grocery store stuff.

Oh yeah, and I planted my persimmon tree and my blackberry and raspberry bushes (3 of each). And Oliver pulled out one of my blackberry bushes twice, another one once. Let's hope they survive. Ah, the hazards of a 16-month-old boy running around the yard!

Right now, I am feeling very positive about providing the majority of our family's produce in the coming months. Next year, I'll be able to do much better, as I understand more about what can grow in our climate and when to plant it.