Garden Update

It has been a while since I posted an update of my garden. The weather finally warmed up and is staying that way! Wow, it's about time! If I wanted cold weather, I would move north!! I am almost ready to harvest all the cool season vegetables that I put in during the month of March. I also started work on some of the summer crops.

The carrots should be ready in about 2 weeks. They can be harvested now but are still a bit small. They are a heat tolerant variety so I am not worried about the warm weather.

The garlic should be ready in about 2 weeks as well. The fact that they look so poorly is a good thing! You harvest them when they fall over and the leaves start to die back.

The peas started flowering about 10 days ago. I should be able to pick some soon. I don't think I will get more than one heavy picking, I need the space for the green beans.

The broccoli appears to be just sitting there. Plenty of leaves but no florets. I may not get any before I must pull it for the summer crops. Broccoli does better in the Fall here.

I had plenty of spinach this year! It was delicious! I did have to pull it this past weekend because it bolted from the heat. Even the heat tolerant varieties don't do well here. They always bolt too soon for me. I am disappointed in the onions I planted this year. The seed germination was spotty. I had a hard time finding day neutral varieties. They are the only kind that seem to do well planted in the early spring. I did purchase some short day varieties, I will plant them this fall and see how they do. The only bright spot is the onion sets that I saved from last year and planted this year are going to flower. I think I will try to save new seed from them.

I got a lot of the summer seedlings planted. Here is a picture of one of my tomatoes. I have 14 plants this year.

Some of the peanuts made an appearance this weekend! Germination is spotty for now - today I noticed a few small holes where I put a seed. Some creature appears to be eating them! I believe it is the chipmunk I saw sitting on my patio last week. I will replant and cover with some fabric to give the seeds time to germinate. Once they germinate, they will be fine. The plants are not bothered by pests or small animals. The biggest threat I will then have is the Mollydog sitting on them this summer. For some reason, she really likes laying in the peanut bed!

I also added some new strawberry beds.

My new apple trees are producing a few apples. They are super cute! I don't have many apples but that is because the trees are still babies. Here is a picture of one. 

Just put the parsley in the ground yesterday. I have 11 new parsley plants this year. I also have some parsley from last year ready to flower. I should be able to save some seeds from it for next year. I am going to have to sprinkle chili pepper powder on them this summer to keep the bunnies from eating them - I planted them all in the front yard. Still working on the rest of the herbs. Tobacco, established strawberries and blueberries are all doing well for now! I will post pictures of them next time!

If you have a garden question, I would be delighted to help! Send me an email or post a question in the comments below.

Happy Gardening to you!