A Walk Around The Garden

Slowly but surely the garden beds are coming to life.  This is my favorite part of the whole gardening year.  I love the anticipation of waiting for the seeds to come up once I get them in the dirt.  Some crops like radishes and lettuces are fast and only take 3-5 days to germinate.  Other crops take weeks to germinate and the seedlings are so tiny that it is hard to see them once they do come up.  The first to appear were the Sweet Meat Squash that I planted in the long row along the fence.

Next up was the Glass Gem Corn that I planted in one of my new beds on the south side of the garden.

The Calima green beans had started to appear right before that last snow storm and I lost some of the first ones that germinated.  Others were slower to get going and were protected under the grass mulch and have begun to push their way up into the sunshine.  I may have to replant this bed in a few places, but I will give it a couple more weeks to fill in.

My annual herb bed that is growing dill for my pickles and coriander (cilantro) for my salsa has started to come up as well.  These are sensitive heat loving crops, so hopefully we don't get any more late spring surprise snowstorms.  This bed also holds a row of carrots and parsnips to be harvested much later in the season.

The broccoli bed is looking a little stressed after transplanting.  We have been having a lot of very windy days here and the plants have had some damage.  I hope they will get over this little shock soon so they can fill out before the really warm weather hits.

The peas and spinach are just about peaking and I expect to start getting a small harvest from the peas in just a few days.  The spinach has been supplying my salad needs for the past couple of weeks.

The onions are quite happy though a little wind blown and even my tiny home started seedlings are starting to look quite robust, though nowhere near as large as the sets that I planted.  The shallots that I planted at one end of the onion patch are looking happy and some are already sending up flower stalks.

I am thrilled about how healthy my garlic patch is looking.  Many of the stems are an inch thick and the plants are tall and filling in well.  I keep checking for scapes among them, and have a feeling that they will appear in the next few weeks.

The potatoes really took at hit with that last snowstorm.  The Yukon Gold and the Chieftain Potatoes died back to the mulch.  Anything below the mulch still looks like it might grow, so hopefully they will make a comeback.  The Purple Viking Potatoes fared much better and had very little frost damage.

The Strawberries have flowered very well on the few plants that made it to this year.  I think they will mostly be for snacking on as they ripen since I won't have enough for preserving this year.  Once the crop is done I am hoping these plants put out many runners to expand the bed next year.