A Tour of the Spring Garden

I know. I know. It isn't really a spring vegetable. But really. It's my first tomato blossom and I just had to show it off. Isn't she pretty? It is on my Cherokee Purple. The one nearest to the walkway which adds to the heat. All the other CP tomatoes have buds on them too along with all the Heinz. Market Miracle is being slow as is one of the two Amish Paste tomatoes that survived.

OK back to our regularly scheduled spring tour. I've got way too many photos, but the light was really pretty last evening. I'll start with yesterday morning however and spinach in Bed 5. I tore out the spinach patch. With the 90F weather we have had (and will still have), the spinach was ready to be pulled. It was an OK year for spinach. It was late to get into the ground so late to be harvested. I lost about a third to a half of the plants to damping off. But I grew it in a full 4'x16' bed along with the radishes. So I still harvested quite a bit of spinach. And when I was done harvesting I made yet another trellis and planted it up in a three sisters garden just like Bed 8.

Above is what a spinach root looks like. This is why all the experts say not to transplant spinach. If that tap root can't get deep into the ground, the plant just won't be as strong. Though I know a lot of people do transplant it as it is the only way they can get the dang thing to germinate.

My onions are getting larger finally. Earlier in the spring I was worried that they might all die off. I was losing them one at a time. The outer leaves would get brown and slowly die off. It would work its way to the center. It seemed like something was rotting the roots and the leaves just couldn't be supported anymore. I lost some leeks too to the same thing. This soil is filled with nasty fungi. I hope over the years the balance goes more to the good ones. I gave it a couple doses of fish emulsion and that seemed to perk them up a bit. At least now the onions seem much stronger.

At the corners of the onion bed are some beets. I hate beets. Not a little, but a lot. Blech! So I never grew them before. But my townhouse mates love them. This little patch is for them. It is in a really bad section. Those corners dry out very fast. I should water them more.

You have seen a lot of Bed 6 since it houses my Asian greens and chard. But have you seen the above monstrosity? That bed is four feet wide. The chard in front of it is tall. The michihili cabbage from Mac is taking over the world. It has started to head up. What will I do with it when it is picked? I can't eat that much of anything. I think next year I'm going to find a nice miniature Chinese cabbage to grow. I do have a nice Napa cabbage next to it that is also heading up. At least that plant doesn't have world domination on its mind.

Also at the other end of Bed 6 are my 11 broccoli plants. I have three different kinds. Two of them are starting to head up. Above is the earliest, Packman. It is almost ready to be picked. With the heat, I'll have to watch them closely.

Then there is Windsor which is just starting to form nice heads. The Piracicaba broccoli hasn't started yet. I'm glad to have planted so many types as it will give me more of a spread out harvest at least for the first harvest from each.

In Bed 5 my potatoes are all coming up. Very late since I can't seem to get local seed early in the season. I have a neighbor whose plants are almost knee high. I need to get some bamboo fencing up to keep these guys in their beds. Or I won't be able to walk down the path to pick my broccoli. Potatoes like to flop over the edge too much.

Moving on to Bed 3, we have peas, both snow peas and snap peas. The tall ones in the front are Golden Sweet snow peas. I'm not a big fan of the really tall peas. They tend to get in the way. When I was harvesting the spinach I broke off some branches, because it just won't stay where it belongs. I wanted to try it though as I really want a golden podded pea.

And the snow peas, both Golden Sweet (above) and Blizzard are blooming. It won't be long until my first pea harvest. I can't wait.

In front of the peas are some other plants. I'll work my way to the fence. The first up is my favas which are blooming. I haven't a clue how long it will take before I can harvest them. But they look really pretty.

Next are my carrots. I love how they are all lined up in rows. Something inside me really likes rows better than scattering seed randomly.

Then comes a nice row of bunching onions, some parsley, my dead cumin, an empty spot that needs more cilantro to be sown, and my cilantro. Behind the cilantro are a couple of rows of leeks, one row of celery, and some dill.

The herb gardens are growing well. My chamomile is in bud. I'll be able to pick the first buds soon. The other day I as talking about volunteers. After the first year I should never have to plant these. They will come up every year by themselves. I just have to be lazy and let a few of them go to seed. I'm sure I will. By the middle to end of summer, I'll be bored to tears picking little blossoms and just let them go.