Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Day late, dollar short, as usual

I have some catching up to do already! I've remembered to take weekly pictures, they just haven't made it to the internet yet. Stupid real life getting in the way of blogging...

We have eaten our first produce from the garden. Some small radishes last weekend, a few leaves of our own chard thrown in with big bunches from the farmer's market, and several big bowls of baby lettuces.

The radishes had enormous, healthy greens, but the roots weren't very big yet despite what the seed packet said would be the recommended harvest date. I'm wondering if the soil is too high in nitrogen and is encouraging lush foliage growth at the expense of roots and fruits. The tomatoes are all flowering, and all but the Brandywine tomato are setting fruit, so I'm hoping the radishes are just extra leafy because they are partly shaded by our big pecan tree.

Next seed packet suggested harvest date is June 6 for golden beets and Stupice tomatoes. Until then, it's lettuces and radishes and chard, oh my.

I picked up some more herbs to transplant into the west bed as the lettuces start to bolt. I had room to put in a small dill plant and a medium sized bunch of chives. I have a big hulk of a basil plant to add, but I'm going to wait until some space gets cleared out, probably after the carrots are harvested later in the summer. Until then, the basil will be happy enough with the other basils I have growing in the herb pots next to the front door.

I also figured out why the lacinato kale has been looking so lacy. Cabbage worms! They finished off the kale and started working on my arugula and nasturtiums. I've been going out and picking them off daily, along with any slugs or other little munchers I can find. Soon, I'm going to set out some saucers of beer to lure the slugs out into the open and then let all our backyard birds deal with the slimy drunkards! To head off any more garden party crashers, I have planted marigolds around some of the tomatoes and am starting more marigold seeds (saved from my container garden) to transplant later.

Also started from seed:
- Nasturtiums
- Basil
- Zinnias
- I guess I should have written this down, because that's all I can remember. I can recognize the nasturtium leaves, and I can smell which one is basil, but I think I'm going to have to be surprised when the other seedlings put on a few sets of true leaves and jog my memory about their identities!

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