So far, so good

This is one of my Cherokee Purple tomato plants. I planted it in the garden about three weeks ago. Obviously it is loving its new home! Lots of rain and now hot temps are making them flourish! The other tomato plants look almost as good.


In this photo you can see my sweet bell peppers in the foreground and my cucumbers in the background under the trellis. I have two Big Bertha bell pepper plants (they make great stuffed peppers!). I also have two Chocolate Beauty bells. This is a new variety for me this year. Apparently the peppers turn a chocolate color when they are ripe and they are very sweet. I have two varieties of cucumbers planted. I lost a couple of plants early on when the weather was still cool and stormy. But those that survived have gotten much stronger and are really growing. They will be growing up the trellis in no time!

I planted Fordhook Lima Bush Beans today. I still need to plant the pole beans, but I am going to wait until next weekend for that. I realize that means I'll have a late harvest this year, but it just can't be helped.

Here's a photo of my garden today. I'm pretty happy with how it is coming along, especially considering how I've neglected it more than usual this year.


And here is a photo of my backyard, looking at it from the patio. Plans are in the works to make a perennial flower bed just to the left of the patio, encircling the birdbath and the corner of the patio. We are making the vegetable garden the priority right now, but once it is in we will focus on the perennial bed more.


Today's weather:
High temp: 84 F
Low temp: 67 F
Cloudy with a chance of thunderstorms

The Garden is *Almost* In

We have had a lot of rain this spring and, of course, the rain usually happens on the weekends when I'm off work. So getting the garden going this year has been a challenge. However, as you can see, my early plantings are loving it. In the picture above I have red cabbage, green cabbage, spinach, swiss chard, kale, and three kinds of lettuce.

Jeff has been working on getting the ground dug up for me. Last weekend I went to the Bloomington Farmer's Market and bought hot pepper plants, tomato plants, and zucchini plants. Today I planted flower seeds along the southern most edge of the garden: sunflowers, nasturtiums, and verbena. Here's a picture of my perennial coreopsis that grows in one of the front corners of the garden:


My fourteen year old mowed the lawn so I used the clippings to mulch the plants that are in the ground and established. Working out in the garden today was difficult. It was really hot and humid and miserable. So I didn't do everything that needed to be done. Other things I still have to do to consider the garden ready to go are planting bush lima beans, planting green beans, trimming around the garden fence, and mulching the walkways. I'm getting close.

Here is the garden this evening with the shadows being cast as the sun is low in the sky:


Today's weather:
High temp: 90 degrees
Low temp: 70 degrees
Very sunny and humid.

Planting time!

My lone zucchini plant. I didn't grow zucchini last year and missed it so I decided to grow it again this year.

I have had this day designated as my planting day for weeks now so I didn't let a sick kid or the threat of rain deter me. So this morning I left Jeff at home to tend the sick kid and took my 13 year old down to the Bloomington Farmer's Market in search of plants for my garden. I'd made a list based on my garden plan. That place was packed with vendors and shoppers. I ended up spending $17 and I got 4 tomato plants (2 Cherokee Purples, 1 Beefy Boy, and 1 Roma), 4 hot pepper plants (2 Jalepeno, 1 Banana Pepper, and 1 Poblano), 1 zucchini plant, 4 Sweet Genovese Basil plants, and 1 rosemary plant. I was disappointed that I couldn't find any cucumber or butternut squash plants, and the only sweet bell pepper plants I could find were California Wonder and I want Big Bertha. I also didn't buy any oregano or parsley because I was out of cash. So obviously I am not done shopping for plants although I am done for today. I am thinking of making a trip to Cox's Plant Farm near Clayton, Indiana. Next to the farmer's market, it is my favorite place to buy plants.


Above is a photo of one of the tomato plants I bought alongside a basil plant. (Returning readers will remember that I plant basil among my tomatoes to attract parasitic wasps in order to control the disgusting tomato pest, the Tomato Hornworm.) I am a bit torn about the tomato situation. I only bought 4 tomato plants today and interplanted them with basil. I am trying to learn from past mistakes and last year I learned two things about tomatoes. One is that I prefer to let my tomatoes sprawl with minor support instead of staking and pruning. I find I get more tomatoes that way. The other thing I learned is that you can't crowd tomatoes. They need their room, especially if you let them sprawl. So my 4 tomato plants and basil plants take up all the room I have for them in the garden. But 4 tomato plants is not many at all. I want to make salsa and tomato sauce and I just don't think 4 plants will cut it. But I don't know where I could fit any more in. I need to think about that a while.

My garden planting isn't done. Here's what I've planted so far: lots of snow peas (now flowering), butterhead lettuces (almost ready to start harvesting), 4 rows of beets (2 inches tall), two rows of green onions and one row of carrots (all about 1 inch tall), 2 broccoli transplants, nasturtium seeds (two sets of leaves each so far), a row of sunflowers (about 4-5 inches tall), dill seeds (sprouting), kale seeds (sprouting), 4 tomato plants, 4 basil plants, 4 hot pepper plants, 1 rosemary plant, 1 zucchini plant, and yarrow seeds (the last 6 items planted today). I have already got bush bean and pole bean seeds but I'm holding off on planting those because I'm exhausted. Still need to buy 1 oregano plant, 1 parsley plant, 2 cucumber plants, 1 butternut squash plant, 3-4 bell pepper plants, and 1-2 sweet potato plants. My perennial chives, sage, coreopsis, and lavender are coming back again. Here's what my garden looked like today when I finished (just as the rain was starting, by the way.):


Today's weather:
High temp: 68 F
Low temp: 55 F
Showers.

Sticking with it

Isn't this a beautiful picture? This is my double shepherd's hook in the perennial bed leading up to my front doorway. It is meant to attract hummingbirds to our home. A sight like this really makes me feel like summer is here. Unfortunately, we haven't seen any hummingbirds yet this year. It seems really strange to us and we can't figure out where they are. They've been visiting us for years. And if this beautiful planter and nectar aren't enough, right behind them along my house are tons of red and yellow columbine plants.


As beautiful as things have been in the front, things in the backyard haven't fared so well. Mother's Day weekend I set out all of my seedlings. Usually that is a safe date around here. This year it has been unusually rainy and cooler than usual. Needless to say, my seedlings didn't do well. Everything I had started from seed died once they were set outside. Either it got too wet/cold for them or I just didn't harden them off long enough.

Anyway, I wasn't about to give up for the year, so we headed off to the nursery last weekend to buy new plants. I came home with four more tomato plants (bringing my total to 12), 4 cucumber plants, lots of bell peppers (4 green, 4 red, and 2 yellow), 2 zucchini plants, 1 sweet potato plant, a bag of yellow onion sets and bush green bean seeds, 4 lettuce plants, two large pumpkin plants, 3 miniature pumpkin plants, 4 baby watermelon plants, and 4 muskmelon plants. I put them out into the garden and after 5 days in the ground, they all seem to be doing well. The onion sets are even starting to sprout.

Today's local weather:
Low temp: 47 F
High temp: 69 F
Sunny

My front yard

I've been spending so much time getting the garden in the backyard started, that I'd been neglecting my front yard. Finally this weekend I cleaned up and pruned the perennial bed next to the walkway up to my front door. It really is amazing what a difference a new layer of mulch can make.

Most of the perennial flowers aren't in bloom yet. But here's one that is (Bleeding Heart):


Today's local weather:
High temp: 55 F
Low temp: 38 F
Partly cloudy and cold, chance of frost tonight (covering plants with straw)