Garden Update

Last night we got some rain. Well, actually, we got quite a bit of rain...and some sizable hail...all in the course of an hour. So this evening, I thought it might be a good idea to go check on the veggies in the garden. Here's what I found:

My onions are doing great! The tops are nearly three inches tall, and I'm so excited to have green onions (scallions) and yellow onions! But I'm getting impatient...

The parsnips and carrots took a bit of a beating from the hail last night, but there are a few of each with good, hardy tops. I'll keep succession planting so I can hopefully have plenty to can.

The peas are doing wonderfully! They're climbing the trellises like crazy, and we've even got some good pods forming.



Just a few of the many pods 
I sacrificed a pod to see how things were going...not bad!

A few of the pea plants were broken by last night's hail, but I think they'll pull out of it. I've still got eight square feet of space to fill with succession plantings, so I think we'll be alright. :)
Last week, I planted four new tomato plants to replace the four the critters ate. I also bought and applied a natural deer/rabbit repellent to deter future critters. But, alas, only two of them survived critters. And after last night, the remaining two are gone as well. :( However, I will not give up. I will get more plants this week, but this time, I'm going to go ahead and put the cages around them, and then I'm going to wrap the cages in some sort of small fencing. I'll teach those critters!
The two jalapenos and three of the four bell peppers are doing well, but the fourth bell pepper took a bit of a hit from the hail. I'm going to wait and see if it can pull through before I consider replacing it.
I think it's gotten a little too warm for spinach and arugula, but I do have a few sprouts popping up, so time will tell. On the other hand, the lettuce is doing quite well! I plan to get some more seeds in the ground this coming weekend to keep the salad bowl going.

Yum!

The green beans have barely survived the critters, but I'm still succession planting and crossing my fingers for a good crop.
And finally, the herbs. The parsley was slow to start and just started doing well last week. And then last night, the hail beat it up. The basil is also taking its sweet time, but the cilantro is growing like a weed! If any of you want some cilantro, please let me know! It's screaming to be a part of your next Mexican meal!

Did I mention that this smells absolutely fantastic?

So far this year, gardening has been a bit of a roller coaster. Between critters and hail, we've suffered a little bit of loss, but the amazing success of the peas and cilantro have given me hope. This is a learning experience, and I'm having a blast with it!
How are your veggies doing? Are they thriving? Are you having to overcome any pests?

Garden Update

In between the rain showers and storms this weekend, I managed to get a little gardening done.

I came home from work Friday night and was extremely stressed out. During dinner, I was looking out at the vegetable garden and noticed the spinach and arugula were growing like weeds. They desperately needed harvested. So, after dinner, we bundled up The Munchkin (it was pretty cool outside) and headed outside. The Man planted some flowers we bought for one of our flower beds, and I went to pick greens from the vegetable garden. I did a little weeding as I went and also managed to plant the roma tomatoes, bell peppers, and jalapenos I bought last weekend (my seeds didn't start). The Munchkin toodled back and forth in the yard between the two of us, picking blades of grass and gathering rocks for mommy and daddy. I brought The Munchkin back in the house before she got too cold, and I felt like the weight of the world had been lifted off my shoulders. It seems gardening comes with a wonderful result: I manage to forget all the stress, and all the AD/HD "noise" goes away. It's an amazing feeling!

Saturday, I wandered back to the vegetable garden again to inspect the progress, and today I got some more seeds in the ground. Here's the update:

• The herbs (cilantro, basil, parsley) are all doing really well. The leaves are starting to become distinguishable, and I'm excited to have fresh herbs on hand!
• The spinach and arugula are going nuts, and I'm picking several handfuls every few days. Both plants loved the cooler weather and rain last week, and Friday, I picked enough of the two to fill a gallon storage bag. I'm anticipating similar growth this week. I also started another short row of spinach.
• The peas have shot up to about 6" tall, and I'm trying to decide how I want to go about stringing them so they can climb. I started another short row of snow peas and one more long row of snap peas.
• The second round of carrots has popped through, and I planted another round today. That makes 3 square feet of carrots so far.
• The parsnips have popped up, as well! I'll plant more this week.
• Both the green onions and the yellow onions have sprouted, too. I'll plant more of each this week.

I'm getting more excited each day, simply because I can look out the window and see more and more progress. And I'm learning a lot along the way.

I've realized that the long rows of peas are probably going to be a pain once they get taller. The reason for this is that I'm planting rows about 8" apart, so it might be a little difficult to get to the plants in the middle of the row. Oh well, live and learn, right?

I'll also probably track my progress a little differently next year. SmartGardener is great for the layout and to do list, but it doesn't help me track the positions of seeds I've succession planted. Because of this, I'm pretty much waiting for seeds to sprout before I plant another bunch. I'm afraid this will leave me with gaps in the harvest, but I guess time will tell.

I've also learned a bit about garden critters. Saturday, when I went out to check the progress, I noticed the leaves were gone from a few tomato plants, and two of my jalapeno plants were gone. One had simply been plucked out, roots and all, and the other was completely gone. So I'm looking into organic critter deterrents...can you offer any ideas?

How is your garden progressing? I hope you're enjoying the progress as much as I am! Happy growing season!

Garden Update

This weekend is a flurry of gardening activity, especially since I didn't do any gardening last weekend. So, here's a recap:

Last weekend, according to my SmartGardener To Do List, I was supposed to prep the soil for arugula and spinach, but I hadn't yet been visited by the dirt fairy. My dirt showed up yesterday, so I spent today filling the raised beds I constructed in the summer of 2010. (The raised beds never got filled with dirt because I found out I was pregnant a week or two after constructing them, and complete exhaustion set in soon after. And last spring/summer, I was busy tending to a newborn and adjusting to a severe lack of sleep, so gardening wasn't high on my list of priorities!) Anyway, today I mixed the soil with some organic fertilizer and filled the beds...needless to say, my body is killing me, and I'm utterly exhausted! Now they're prepped for arugula and spinach (and all the other good stuff I'm going to plant)!

Tomorrow, I am going to start several seeds (in egg cartons):
- Roma tomatoes
- Parsley
- Cilantro
- Serrano peppers
- Jalapeno peppers
- Cayenne peppers

It's also time to sow the spinach and arugula seeds directly in the garden beds.

And in a few weeks, I'll get to transplant my darling little green onions, which are doing quite well in their egg carton!

Can you tell I'm excited about this year's garden?! :) How's your garden coming along?

Garden Update

A few weeks ago, I posted My Garden Plan, and I've got some updates on its progress.

With the help of SmartGardener and the weekly To Do reminders and emails, I've already got some seeds started, and I will be starting more this weekend.

Last weekend, I started green onions (I'm growing Evergreen Bunching). Using an empty egg carton with the top half removed, I filled 10 of the egg cubbies with seed starting mix, and placed 2 seeds in each cubby. The egg carton is sitting on the window sill in the kitchen, where I can see it and remember to water it every few days. I've got 1 square foot of my garden plan allocated for green onions, and that space will accommodate 16 plants.

I also purchased the Succession Planting Smart Add On from SmartGardener ($1.99 one-time cost), so I'll be using that tool to remind me when to start another batch of green onion seeds (every few weeks). Succession planting like this will give me a more steady supply of produce throughout the growing season, instead of planting 20 plants all at once and having a one-time overload of a particular item!

Green onions are best if they're used when fresh, but they can be cleaned, sliced, and frozen for later use, and that's exactly what I plan to do.

This weekend, my SmartGardener To Do is to start my bell pepper seeds (I'm growing California Wonder). I'll use the same method I used for the green onions, except I'm only going to start 6 seeds. I've allocated 6 square feet of my garden plan for bell peppers, and I'll be succession planting them as well.

Bell peppers can also be cleaned and frozen for later use. In our house, we eat a lot of bell peppers in things like fajitas and Italian dishes, so I'll go ahead and slice some to freeze for that type of use, but I'll also probably prepare some stuffed bell peppers as freezer meals (more on this topic when the time comes).

Are you planning a garden this year? If so, what seeds have you started or will you be starting soon, and what do you plan to do with your harvest?

My Garden Plan

As many of you probably already know, I'm a farmers' market junkie and a bit of a hippie (I make my own compost...)! Every Wednesday last summer, my boss would let me come into work an hour late so I could go to the market and shop for fresh, local produce. I would then come home and make mounds of baby food for The Munchkin. And I loved every minute of it!

I love being able to talk to the people who grow the food...I can learn about their process (they love food as much as I do), and I can ensure that my family is getting the best quality produce. And I'm doing what I can to support the local economy. It's also nice to know that what we will be eating was picked at its peak and just days prior to consumption, as opposed to grocery store produce. (Grocery store produce is picked early and forced to ripen during or after shipping, which results in less taste and fewer nutrients. And the produce is shipped, on average, 1500 miles just to get to your plate, consuming a large amount of fossil fuels...)

Ok, I'm stepping down off the soapbox now! :)

Anyway, I plan to still shop at the farmers' markets this summer, but I have also planned to grow quite a bit of the food for our household. Since we've lived here, I've grown a few things, but never enough to really have a freezer or canned stock.

Two summers ago, before I found out I was pregnant, I constructed 4 raised garden beds from salvaged decking materials. (I thought the build was so exhausting because I was out of shape...I found out a few weeks later that I was pregnant!) Anyway, because I was so tired for the first few months of my pregnancy, I didn't make any progress with the gardens. Then, last year, having a newborn and a full time job made it difficult to get out and do any serious gardening. I planted a few things, and ended up with a HUGE zucchini plant. And all-in-all, the outcome was good. This year, I hope to do things a little differently.

I have 64 square feet of garden space in those nifty raised beds, and with the help of SmartGardener, I've planned a well-rounded garden full of produce that can either be canned or frozen (with the exception of a few things which will need to be eaten fresh, like salad greens). I just hope I can keep up with it!

Here's what I've got planned:

• roma tomatoes
• green beans
• arugula
• lettuce mix
• spinach
• broccoli
• bell peppers
• serrano peppers
• cayenne peppers
• cantaloupe
• snow peas
• snap peas
• carrots
• parsnips
• beets
• green onions
• spanish onions

I'll also be growing some herbs like basil and cilantro in pots.

My hope is that, with SmartGardener's weekly to do list and email reminders, I'll be able to maintain a garden full of delicious produce to feed this little family. I'll get the items we eat less frequently, like cucumbers, at the market. And we have a huge stock of both winter and summer squash in the freezer from last summer, so I don't need to grow any of those!

I'm excited to get started in a few weeks, and I hope to keep you updated on the process (both successes and failures)! And hopefully, I can inspire each of you to grow a food item or two...

What would you like to try growing?