2013 Garden: Some planting

I planted seeds, indoors, back on March 31st. Here's a photo of how they have progressed in the past six weeks.

Cherry tomato, sweet pepper, chili pepper, basil, and luffa gourd seedlings.

The weather finally gave me a break, and with my baby in a bouncer and toddler at his sandbox (or sometimes digging in my garden), I managed to get to work. Bits of progress over three different days yielded some success.

On May 7th I was able to pull the new weeds from the section I had weeded previously, turn the soil again, and get to planting! I planted one row of Swiss chard, nearly two rows of spinach, and a small section of kale. I had no idea that my packet of kale would contain so few seeds-- "Now I know, and knowing is half the battle...G.I. Joe!" I also managed to pull the weeds from the other half of the raised bed!

My husband doubled my garden this year by moving the fence to encase a larger area, but we don't plan on adding more raised beds until the fall.

Hence, I decided to dig up spots to permit more planting than what my existing, raised bed can accommodate. I took a shovel and dug holes around about half of the garden's perimeter, along the fence line. I removed the grass, shook out the soil, and decided I'd need a bit of topsoil and manure to prep these spots for planting.

My husband picked up topsoil and manure and dumped the bags near my garden. I finally found time on May 11th to prep the newly-dug spaces, then planted seeds for pumpkin, cantaloupe, green beans, and cucumbers.

I turned the soil in the unplanted portion of the raised bed, and planted seeds for carrots and broccoli (one packet of seeds, each), leaving space in the garden for some chili peppers and sweet peppers that are growing indoors.

Prepped.

Planted.

Of course it got down into the twenties Sunday evening/Monday morning -- I had contemplated waiting until the following weekend to plant, but instead decided to monopolize on some free time, as my husband was caring for the boys. I hope that the melon and pumpkin seeds weren't damaged. Time will tell.

As for the tomatoes and basil that I am growing indoors, I plan to transplant them to large pots that I will keep in the garden. I also intend to purchase herb plants at a sale next weekend, and a few more tomato plant varieties in a month or so from the farmer's market -- all to live in pots in my garden area.

Oh, and a rhubarb plant, given to me last fall by my manager, has come up nicely!  I planted it outside of my garden last year (near the fence), as rhubarb has few pests to worry about, and takes up quite a bit of space.

I'm looking forward to harvesting strawberries from my patch to accompany the rhubarb in a delectable pie ;). I also enjoy eating rhubarb, raw, by the stalk -- it's tart bite makes my mouth water!! As long as I keep up with the daily watering routine, I should get a fine yield of berries. I intend to freeze some, and can a little jam, too!

The greens (chard, kale and spinach) were visible on May 14th!