Assessing My Garden Thus Far...

Today, it is just raining torrentially! It seems to me to be a good day to stay inside while Nature waters the garden for me and take stock of my garden's progress so far...

First, here are some tomato photos that I promised would be forthcoming in Tuesday's post. Without a doubt they are, as usual, the biggest success in my garden. I most definitely have a green thumb as far as raising tomatoes is concerned! The top photo is a long shot of the tomato bed, although it's hard to gauge just how tall they really are from this view! The next photo is my Brandywine and, again, the photo doesn't do it justice in terms of how large it actually is at this early point in the season, topping out at well over three feet tall! The last photo is the Patio tomato, which is not leafing out much and seems to be rather gangly. However, I have already harvested three tomatoes from it.

So, back to the focus of this post -- assessing my garden so far.

The other successes:
1) The leaf lettuces, romaine, and chard grown from seedlings have done very well and have fed me and the geese quite well!

2) The fava beans are a pleasant surprise! Twelve seeds, out of thirteen, sprouted to my delight. Flowering is almoist finished and a few pods are forming. Can't wait to harvest these soon!

3) The carrots seem to be doing well and are ready for thinning.

4) Onions, so easy to grow, are doing nicely!

Mixed Review:

1) Greens planted from seed mixes seem to be heavy on the arugula (which I do like), but lean on other types of greens. An aside -- Phoenix actually likes it, but it's too spicy for Syd!

2) The red lettuces and Swiss chard (Lucullus) planted from seed seem to be rather slow-growing -- but, hey, they ARE growing!

3) I think I will go back to growing beets from seedlings purchased from my local nursery. Germination of the Detroit Dark Red seeds has been marginal at best.

4) Some of my pepper plants appear to be stunted by the cold spell we had shortly after they were planted. Overall, though, I think they will thrive and I will have a good harvest as time goes on.

The disappointments:

1) I love fresh peas and before I left on vacation, they seemed to be progressing nicely and I was looking forward to a good harvest upon my return. However, while I was gone, they just seemed to shrivel up to nothing! I'm not quite sure what happened, but I suppose I will need to get my fill of peas from another source. Actually, I can plant a fall crop, but I think I will try something other than 'Alaska'.

2) Only one edamame seed (out of about 15 planted) has sprouted.

3) The Dandelion Ameliore, planted especially for the geese, has not materialized! I bought four packs of seed from The Cook's Garden last fall and the one pack that I planted last year didn't germinate either. So, I called them and they located my order and shipped more seeds out to me. I will plant these shortly and see if they fare any better. Keep your fingers crossed!


Now, I move on to plans for the "Summer Garden"! But that's a whole other post...

Spring Garden Up-Date

It's always so exciting to see new life in the garden, when you realize that the seeds you have planted have germinated and have begun to grow! I was so amazed by this the first year I had my garden -- and I never grow tired of it.



My shelling peas (Alaska) have poked through the earth and are an inch or so long. If I look very closely, I think I see something starting in the carrot (Nantes) bed. I have diligently kept these moist because if this is what carrots like (they do), then this is what they will get! All of my transplants are doing well: leaf lettuces (Salad Bowl and Red Sails); a nonspecified type of romaine; Swiss chard (Bright Lights); and a nondescript mesclun mix (called "European").



In between the lettuce and mesclun transplants, I have scattered seeds. Thus far, the arugula is the most productive. Not so much for the red lettuces (Outredgeous and Silvia)! Likewise, no sign of life for the beets, chard seeds (Lucullus), or the dandelion greens for the geese.


However, most of all, I am excited because I have finally seen life in the fava bean section! Five daring little shoots have pushed through the ground at this point -- eight more to go, if I am to have 100% germination. We shall see! I've heard they can be temperamental. Keep your fingers crossed!



About half the garden is planted at this point. The other half still needs to be cleared -- and I need to get busy because I anticipate my tomato and pepper live plant order from Burpee very shortly.



But, wait -- oh, no! What about the beans, the cukes, the Brussels sprouts, the edamame, the bok choy? The gardener's perpetual dilemma -- what if there's not enough room to plant all that I want? Somehow, I suppose I will find the room -- or expand my garden!