Week 9

The herb garden was 95% grass and weeds. So, weedless to say the bed is now 95% herbs!

Before                                      After

My new policy on weeding: 1 to 2 beds per week, no more and no less or I will get overwhelmed.

Truth be told, I am already in over my head, but I love working in the garden. If I didn't love it and have a little luck, my drive wouldn't have survived the late freezes with having to run out to the shed at 9pm after work to cover up the rows of seedlings night after night. I can't express how happy I am that we have gotten through the last freeze.

Take a closer look at some of the herbs that are popping up.

True Lavender

Chives

Cilantro

Basil

Parsley

Rosemary

Thyme

The spinach is ready to be picked, but I plan on leaving some of the smaller leaves so they can get bigger.  I plan on growing some edamame as soon as the spinach and mesclun mix has done its job. 

The squash plants look beautiful and seemed to grow a foot high in roughly one week. I saw people on Pinterest growing them upwards, so I added some bamboo and a wooden frame to support the plant. We'll see how this goes, as I am beginning to think the variety of squash that I have planted will not work well with the vertical growing idea. The cucumber plants were planted at the same time, but nowhere near the size of the squash plants.

Don't forget to include some marigolds in your garden to aid in pest control plus they add a pop of color! I moved a large St. Francis of Assisi statue into the garden and it fit the space perfectly. It is my understanding that he is a fan of the animal kingdom which is why he is chillin' near the chickens. 

Peas are continuing to take form and I can't wait to starting picking them off the vine and shelling them. I started another variety of carrot in a new bed that I haven't shown, some brussels sprouts, arugula, and a sweet pepper plant. 

Tomato Tomata! The tomato plants I direct sowed into the ground are starting to mature. I will try to remember to remove the suckers that grow in between the main stem and its extensions that bear tomatoes. Using google and the words "growing tomatoes," you can find a wealth of information on how to grow them in a healthy and productive environment.  

Peas

Check out some before and after photos to see how far the vegetable garden has come since it began 9 weeks ago in early March.

0 weeks

6 weeks

9 weeks

Week 7 & 8

Rain and weeds have kept me busy for the better part of the past two weeks. The rain has passed, but the weeds are still taunting me at each corner of the vegetable garden.
I figured it would be helpful to see a run down of what it looks like before the mesclun mix lands into my bowl. Note: I trim the mesclun mix down to a height of 2 inches and it keeps coming back like a bad haunting.

Most of the time, I am able to wash the lettuce greens right after I cut them, but it is best to cut in the coolest times of the day. If you cut it in the middle of the day, it goes limp and looks pitiful. I learned quickly after getting a late start in the garden last weekend. My lovely wife suggested putting the lettuce trimmings in cold water and to leave it in the refrigerator. "Botta bing botta boom" it works! However, some lettuce had some discoloration and began to wither away, but most made a comeback. I put all of the greens in a bowl with water and took a handful at a time and added it to the pot with water to wash off dirt, critters, and anything else. I kept one of my buckets (Foldger's plastic coffee cans work great) handy so that I could re-purpose the not so good bits of lettuce in my compost bin.

I put the lettuce in a hard plastic container and separated two servings of salad with a paper towel to help soak up extra moisture after letting the lettuce dry on towels for a few minutes.
I have read that you can keep lettuce fresh and crisp in the refrigerator between 3 to 10 days depending on the variety of lettuce.

My compost is slowly building up to a nice pile of black gold. I use trimmings from plants, coffee grounds, egg shells, paper, cardboard, fruit scraps, and and earthworms to keep it productive. I can't wait to use this for next year's veggies or the fall plants.

The strawberries are in full swing and really kicked into high gear the past two days. I have been cutting and freezing them as they have been ripening. If you can't find the chickens or my son, look no further than the patch of strawberry plants on the outskirts of the vegetable garden. It is like watching the Hunger Games for strawberries. 

I have been using the strawberries along with some feta cheese to dress freshly cut mesclun greens. Add some grilled chicken breast and a fruity vinaigrette and now you have my attention. What a beautiful and tasty combination! Wish I had a photo of that salad I ate today, but sadly it is gone...

I planted some morning glories that my mother got for my birthday and they are beginning to show themselves. There are two pots on both sides of a wooden arbor and my hope is that they will grow up alongside an already established vine to add some color and beauty in the backyard. 

Quick Vegetable Update

Broccoli (back) and Kale (front)

Black Seeded Simpson (left), Silvestra (middle), Romaine (right)

Picklebush Cucumber

Hybrid Picnic Squash

Carrots (left), Buttercrunch lettuce (right)

Spinach

Early Peas Blooming

They are so beautiful!

Potatoes and Onions (on both sides of potatoes, but hard to see)

Bush Beans (Mellow Yellow-front, Bush Blue Lake 47-middle, Bush Blue Lake 274-back)

The ladies free ranging. I have a special place in my heart for the these lumps of feathers.

I love free things, especially when they serve a good purpose. To help with weed control, I found someone giving away pine mulch. So, I loaded up my car with buckets and plastic sheets to haul as much of it home as possible. This is what it looks like when you make do with what you have and use your car like a truck. I heard once that people are most creative when they have less options.

I can honestly say that the smell of pine was overwhelmingly nauseating. Not sure if I will do this again. Yuck...

Week 6

The peach blossoms have fallen, revealing new peaches as spring launches forward. 

"If I have to cover my plants one more time, I'm gonna have a hissy fit!"

The mesclun mix has grown to maturity and can be cut as a nice addition to the main course for dinner. The potato plants are looking happy and growing rapidly. After the photo was taken, I added another inch of wheat straw around the potato plants. Wheat straw was also applied to all of the walkways which I will show in next week's post. The straw will help keep moisture in the garden and control "some" of the weeds. I want to use wood chips in the future as they are usually listed for free on craigslist and look beautiful. Wheat straw costs a few buckaroos which makes it a quick and affordable solution to a common problem. 

This long row of bush beans are quick growing and will provide beautiful supply of fresh green beans in only 2 months time. The plants are getting hungry and they are due for their fertilizer this coming week which will help out all of my new plants. I have no idea what to expect from my garden this year, but I can't help but to have high hopes for an abundance of veggies. My worst nightmare would be a rainy summer like last year and having to combat moisture which increases the risk of plant disease, fungus, and bugs. Keeping my fingers crossed as I am experiencing both feelings of excitement and nervousness. I keep asking myself, "What did I get myself into?"

Week 5

30 days of progress

3 bags of soil and compost to motivate me

For the first time, I can breathe. The garden is more than complete per my original plans. Here is what I have in my garden so far:

• Herb Garden: Chives, Garlic Chives, Lavender, Mint, Chamomile, Cilantro, Thyme, Basil, Oregano, Parsley.
• Lettuces: Romaine, Black Seeded Simpson, Sylvestra, Buttercrunch, Mesclun Mix

Romaine Lettuce

• Greens: Spinach, Kale, Broccoli
• Other: Cucumber, Summer Squash, Roma Tomatoes, Delicious Tomato, Orange Wellington Hybrid Tomato
• Legumes: Mellow Yellow Bush Beans, Bush Blue Lake Beans, and an improved Bush Blue Lake variety.
• Fruits: Strawberries (transplanted from other areas of the garden) and Peaches (thank you previous home owner!)

I made miniature green houses out of plastic containers and milk jugs for the tomato plants so I could sow them directly in the ground. If you put a stick through the container and into the ground, it won't disappear on you. I have noticed less squirrels lately and I'm not sure why, but I'm not complaining.

The potatoes are making a full recovery from the late frost and they have grown back with a vengeance. I have thinned out all of the sprouts from my early planting except for the onions. I'm waiting on bush bean plants, more peas, squash, cucumber, tomatoes, and a row of herbs listed above to start sprouting up from their raised beds.

The strawberry blossoms are fading away to reveal green fruit that will hopefully grow in size and ripen for the picking. The mesclun mix of salad greens are looking more beautiful with each day and getting closer to the dinner table. My wife and I have already picked out a yummy vinaigrette to put over the top of our salads.

Week 4

"She thinks my tractor's sexy!"

My son's tractor takes me back to when I was in grade school and Kenny Chesney sings "She thinks my tractor's sexy, it really turns her on." If I were to get on my son's tiny plastic tractor singing that song, the most it would do is scare the squirrels away....only temporarily.

This kale plant will hopefully grow to a delicious size so that I can bake up some kale chips or make a healthy smoothie, which my wife refuses to drink if it has the "green stuff" in it. I did not know what to expect when I planted kale and broccoli, but things seems to going well so far.

As nerdy as this sounds, I just love looking at all of the lettuces and the differences between them. They should be getting ready to eat soon. I recently read in "Starter Vegetable Gardens - 24 No-Fail Plans for Small Organic Gardens" that you can get around 3 to 4 trimmings out of each lettuce plant if you don't disturb the root system. 

This is the one and only, Ellouise, hottest chick in the south. She has a lot of fluff and it is going to be warm the summer. She is my girl, but don't tell my wife because she might be jealous that Ellouise gets special attention from time to time. What is this ginormous dandelion?? I have never seen such a thing. It was scary to look at and for some reason I was worried what would happen if I picked it. Is this some mutation or just a super-flower that died?