May 2012 Garden Update

First, I have to show you one of the things on my gardening wish list that I finally got:

These are Sloggers Gardening Boots. I love that I have something to slip on quickly, tromp in the dirt and water, and not ruin my athletic shoes. The downside–I MUST wear socks, and they can be hot. In retrospect, I might have ordered a half or full size larger, so they slipped on more easily, and would breathe a little more. Still, I’m happy as a clam.

Oh, and I have to tuck in my pants, making me look a bit like a Cossack.

Here’s the north east garden bed. I have a Sweet 100 cherry tomato plant, protected by Wall O Water. Next to that is my parsley that I started inside. You can’t see them, but there are a smattering of small plants growing as well. They’re still tiny. And of course the gravel donated by my 3 year old and his friend.

Next is the middle east garden, planted with peppers, eggplant, and potatoes. Again, I grew the peppers and eggplant from seed, and hardened them off for at least a week before transplanting. Here’s a step-by-step on planting the potatoes:

First, I emptied the garden bed so there was just a few inches of dirt left.

This is where I’m storing my dirt to be used as the plants grow.

Next I placed the potatoes one per square, and then covered them with dirt. Notice the tomatoes are already starting to sprout.

And a nice pic of the peppers and eggplant, just before they were transplanted. Note: I have LOVED the way I labeled the plants this year. I used labels–literally. Like address labels. I wrote in permanent marker what I planted, stuck it to the side, and voila! They stayed on well enough to last through the season, but are now easy to remove.

And here is my south east garden bed with the onions–my beds are 12″ tall, and the onions are at least that tall now. Nothing like a little fertilizer!

On the other side of the yard are my tomatoes, in more Walls O Water. I planted radishes around the outside (see close up below).

I still need to get out there and thin them down to one per spot, using scissors.

And here is my new trellis! I’m so excited about it. I bought a cattle panel, and bent it in an arch over my 4×8 garden bed, on the inside. I bought 4 concrete stakes that have small holes through them, pounded them into the corners, then wired the fencing to the stakes. I’m planning to grow peas, cucumbers, and maybe some pumpkins up and around. Hopefully it will provide shade for the cool-weather veggies in this garden bed.

Kale, growing in the 4×8 bed pictured above. Green smoothies, here we come!

This is a radicchio plant I bought. It’s looking great!

My last garden bed, with 4 tomato plants. I just checked and the Walls O Water are probably overheating them. I need to open them in the morning, and close them like a tee pee at night.

This is what the tomatoes look like in the Walls O Water. This one is happy, but a few of the others look overheated.

So that’s how my garden is doing this week. I’ve also updated some of my irrigation, which I’ll do a post on soon!