Inaugural Garden Update (Week 3, Sigh)

So my garden has been planted for nearly a month, and I haven't made time to post about it yet! It's coming up really well already - actually I should say THEY are coming up well... we have a garden at Hubs's grandmother's place again. Here are the pictures I've taken of our garden so far. They were taken on May 19, June 1, and June 10:



At our house, we have three rows of green beans, two rows of sweet corn, two rows of potatoes, four colored bell pepper plants, four green bell pepper plants, and four jalapeno pepper plants, one row of turnips, eight tomato plants, two rows of onions, two rows of carrots, two rows of Indian corn, and two rows of peas.

I ended up transplanting some of the green beans. The first year or two, we planted bush beans, and I didn't care for standing on my head in order to pick them. Then we planted pole beans and Hubs put up fence panels (another benefit of being married to a farmer!) which was great, but the plants were so thick that they were a pain to pick. So this year, I thinned them, and moved the ones I pulled out in the rows with the peas that didn't come up so well.

The sweet corn might have a bit of a problem as I planted the two rows about two weeks apart - every time I'd go to plant the second row, it would rain! Hopefully they'll be OK. The potatoes didn't come up so well, but the volunteer potatoes from what Hubs missed digging last year are doing quite well. I've already lost one colored pepper plant, but the others seem to be doing well, as are the tomatoes. And the turnips are going crazy!

The onions are coming up well, but I had to replant some of the carrots. Last year we had a ton of carrots but we don't have a root cellar, so I ended up losing a lot of them to spoilage, which was a huge bummer.

No picture of the garden at Hubs's grandma's, but all seems to be coming up well there, too. We planted three rows of popcorn (a bit of an experiment on Hubs's part), a couple of watermelon plants, two hills of summer squash, some musk mellon (what IS the difference between that and cantelope, anyway?), and several pumpkin hills with different sizes of pumpkins. We also put in several hills of gourds since they sold reasonably well at the farmer's market, and some of our potatoes that didn't come up so well, either.

My theory on the potatoes? Hubs insisted on soaking the cut potatoes in water. Not only does Laura at Heavenly Homemakers not recommend that (see her planting potatoes post here), but the packaging from the seed potatoes also said to let them cure in air, not water. So. We'll see what he does next year. :>)

As you can see from my pictures, I take full advantage of all the wonderful mulch that comes in the form of grass clippings. It helps SO MUCH with weeding, plus we till it in and it returns nutrients to the soil, so we can grow more stuff. And really? The help with the weeding is totally worth it. Even though my chiropractor noted that I'd been doing a lot of gardening when I went in for my monthly adjustment. The mulch will save on even more bending later.

You may wonder what Goose does all the while I'm working away in the garden. Water is my new best friend - here she is playing with a tub of water and her watering can, under the watchful eye of one of the barn mama cats, Petey.


How's your garden growing so far?