On Sunday, Chad and I expanded a bit, building out the rest of the borders and creating a couple of "paved" areas on the edges where we didn't have anything to plant. We spent a couple of hours out there. I think the results are awesome.If anything actually grows and produces...well that's another story entirely.
Mom helped me thin my little carrots. As you can see,
there are still a lot more that will need to go, but this gets me started. You can't really see them, but there are teeny, tiny little sprouts between the rows of carrots. Those are spur-of-the-moment radishes which, by the way, may end up throughout the yard. Joseph wanted to help plant them and ended up scattering some of the seeds on accident. (They "spilled" out of his hands.) I told Chad it'll be like looking for Easter Eggs. We'll just be looking for little red bumps.
The onions and garlic are going like gang-busters. The only problem I have so far is identifying which is which. Fortunately, the leaves smell pretty strongly. The cages are marking the spots where cucumber should come up. I planted them about two weeks ago and there still isn't anything sprouting. I may end up buying seedlings at OSH this weekend. I'm really hoping they grow. Nothing better than fresh cucumber - unless it's fresh tomatoes or peas or carrots or...okay...moving on.
The back fence does not seem to be a good place for lettuce or spinach. It just doesn't grow. I may end up putting in some sweet corn after all and moving lettuce production to the right. For some reason, that area seems like it would be great for sweet corn - lots of afternoon sun. I'm thinking of scattering lettuce seeds around various areas of the garden and see what happens. At best, it'll at least give me an idea for next year's planting.
In the meantime, I've planted spinach in pots (the green ones) to see if that helps keep whatever is eating it away. I've also planted my herbs in boxes. The idea is if they get too much sun or too much water, I can move them. Let's hope this helps me finally grow basil. I swear, over the years I've gone through more basil plants than anything else. Last year alone I planted it six times! The most frustrating part is that it's supposed to thrive in this area.
My peas are going nuts! I took this picture Sunday evening and this afternoon they were already up another rung of their trellis.Side note: I officially have the best father-in-law in the world. He showed up last week with fencing and thin posts to build a trellis for me. I think it turned out pretty groovy.
My green beans, on the other hand, aren't doing much at all. I'm trying to be patient, but I think we've already established that patience isn't my strong suit. They are supposed to germinate within two weeks and it's been nearly that already. I'll just keep waiting.
We planted three zucchinis in Joseph's garden. Three may be a bit excessive, but not as excessive as the sheer madness of the tomatoes. With my mom acting as an enabler, I planted NINE of them. NINE!! Come July, you'll see me out there shilling them on the 
street.I planted Cherry, Roma and Beefmaster. I thought about going with a yellow pear but realized the three above were the ones most likely to be used. We ended up planting them in our "hot" corner. I think they'll do well there. Hmm...maybe this will be the year I finally have enough tomatoes all at once to can salsa. How cool would that be?
My raspberry is doing brilliantly. The blackberry is getting a few leaves, but the grapes are still just sticks in the ground. I'm not too worried. I've noticed that the local vineyards are still a bunch of sticks as well.And that brings me to the experiment du jour. The cauliflower. I
have no idea if it's going to grow and it seems a bit temperamental, but I thought I'd give it a spin and see what happens. If nothing else, it'll be interesting to find out if it even grows in this zone.Still to plant...green peppers and jalapenos. I'll probably put them between the grapes and berries since there's no way they'll get that big this year. (Famous last words, yes?)
Now I just need to wait. Well, wait and water. Grow garden, grow!
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