Updating Pictures and Planting New Stuff

Today was my first official day of Summer Vacation, and I think I used it well. We still had some space in Garden #2 because Darren expanded it. We didn't know what to put in it, but I finally sat down, drew a map of the garden, and filled it in.

I planted:

• cilantro
• bush beans
• chives
• dill
• hot peppers
• lettuce
• cantaloupe
• watermelon
• onions
• carrots
• parsley
• basil

It may be too late for some of these to be planted (I planted all seeds), but I thought I would give them a try. Now for some comparison pictures:

Pictures are from (left to right) April 3rd, April 25th, and May 28th.

(Below) Head and leaf lettuce (left) April 29th (right) May 28th

Carrots (left) April 29th and (right) May 28th

Burpee lettuce

(Above) April 29th and (below) May 28th

Berries. The one in the front on the right hand side is surprisingly coming to life!

April 29th (above) and May 28th (below)

Peas

(Above) April 29 (Below) May 28

Potatoes and Michin

Potatoes (from top to bottom) April 3rd, April 29th, May 16th, May 28th

Sunburned Pogue

Today and yesterday were really warm, and today I spent a lot of time transplanting and transpotting, so I'm left with a bit of a sunburn. Things are progressing in the gardens. Darren finished expanding the second garden 2 weekends ago, and last weekend we spread all the new soil inside. The walking areas for the expanded part are much more comfortable to squat (or sit) in. We made them a lot wider than the measly 1 foot sections in the first part of the garden, in anticipation for a fat summer. The thing about being pregnant that surprises me the most is how difficult it is to bend, squat, maneuver, etc. around this big belly.

While Darren was finishing off the garden, I made the Three Sisters garden. Hilling up the soil was more difficult than I thought it would be, but I have high hopes for this garden. I planted the corn and squash, but while looking at how many hills of squash we had (4 hills with 3 seeds planted per hill), I started to get nervous about doing the other 5 hills in squash. Darren isn't a big fan, so what the heck am I supposed to do with all that squash? I ended up planting cucumbers in the other 5 hills. They aren't supposed to be a part of the Three Sisters garden, but oh well. The corn has germinated today, and a couple of squash have also germinated.

ON the 20th, I transplanted the first two tomatoes out in the garden to see if it is too soon. We have had high winds (gusts of 34-60 mph down here in Fountain) for the past two days, and I worry about the wind damaging the plants. But, those two tomatoes look awesome, so I transplanted 2 more Better Boys and also 2 Baby Girls. I also transplanted 2 of my 20 cent watermelons today. We'll see how those two do. On the 20th, we transplanted the big Baby Girl (the one with tomatoes already on it) to the area back by the fence. It doesn't quite get full sun, but it get some hot sun between 10-1 and again after 5. I was afraid it would go into shock after being transplanted and drop all of the tomatoes, but it seems to be doing alright.

Almost all of the plants are out of the future nursery (which is where I was keeping them until I was able to take them outside). I still have a few, and we don't want to get a crib until we get all of the plants out. My last day of school for students is Tuesday, so that means I will have LOTS of time in the near future to baby the garden.

First Tomatoes

Update: We saw our first tomato on May 4th. I planted this tomato seed on February 4th.

Happy May Day

I wanted to put up some pictures of the weekly progress. This week, the potatoes came up, we bought a bunch of clay pots to transplant some seedlings, and we planted a blue potato (which I'm fascinated by for some reason). We also made some progress on the addition to the garden. Oh, yeah! The Baby Girl tomato that I planted on February 4th flowered!

Baby Girl cherry tomato flowering. I've been keeping it in the window, and what do you know...plants like the light! Hmmm.

Mixture of tomatoes and peppers in the window. The plants that sit directly on the sills seem to do better than the others. I wish I had more windows and certainly more south facing windows.

The carrots have that fluffy little tuft now:)

All of our new pots and Michin guarding them furtively.

Potatoes have come up. I've never done potatoes before, nor do I think I have ever eaten garden-fresh ones, so I'm intrigued to watch this experiment.

(Left) peppers one month ago. (Below) peppers today. Yea for their awesomeness!