69. Lots of Life in the Garden
This week started off cool but has quickly warmed up and it appears that is the way we are headed for the foreseeable future. The garden is started to ramp up for the year and I have made a dent in the planting I need to do which always feels good to check things off the to do list. Let’s get into what all I’ve done.
First off, I planted squash, zucchini, cucumber and green bean seeds the end of last week and I’m seeing them come up through the ground already! I planted two beds of each except cucumbers because I’m hoping for more of a harvest and the potential of sharing with others this year.
Next I spent an afternoon getting all my tomatoes planted. They all look super healthy so far, it seems like some of my favorites are extra big plants which makes me ready for tomato sandwiches. I’m really hoping this year is better for tomatoes than last year was. I dealt with so much blossom end rot on my fruit and about half ended up being unusable.
My peas are also starting to bloom and the plants look so healthy. I think this is the best year I’ve had with them so far so I’m hoping I get to can some. I think there was several factors that played into this year being better. First the variety, PL595 is one that’s bred for production. Second, covering the soil with plastic and only allowing the peas to grow so they don’t have competition. Third, they are set up on drip irrigation this year. Last year I didn’t get it set up until late June and I think that at that time, the damage had been done for a lot of my garden and I had to play catch up for most of the rest of the season.
My potatoes are also starting to bloom which means soon I can harvest baby potatoes from the plants for dinner before I actually harvest the whole plant. I also plan to can my potatoes this year instead of leave them whole. I feel like it will make me do better at using them since we don’t have a root cellar and they can sometimes go bad where we do keep them because it gets too warm.
I am starting to see flowers bloom around my garden and my yard this time of year. My roses are beginning to bud up and bloom plus my ranunculus and anemones are also blooming. I love both of these and they are mostly hands off for the amount of beauty they bring.
Peep the lacewing on the flower (those are beneficial insects!)
The next things on my to do list are plant out my peppers, sweet potato slips, melons, pumpkins and winter squash. Plus I want to get some zinnias and sunflowers growing as well for summer blooms. Hopefully all these things can get done in the next few weeks but for now, I am enjoying my garden and try to spend some time in it each evening as a wind down to my day. I hope you are getting to do the same.
Until Next Time, Happy Gardening!