Garden Update

It never fails.  For about two months, the garden looks nice, neat and organized in the small patch of land we fenced off for it.  Then, boom!  The plants start to breach their confinement and it gets hard to tell where one begins and the other ends.  Once once small plants transform into a lush, green garden jungle of sorts.  It still surprises me, but at least everything is happy and healthy.

The tomatoes will be ripe for the picking soon, and we have been eating lettuce for some time.  There are little jalapeno peppers taking shape, and the cantaloupe is starting to flower.  Our cucumber plant started to take over the garden, so I had to move it over the side of the fence.  Though huge, it still hasn't produced any cucumbers, which concerns me.  Unfortunately, our pea plants were a bust; they just shriveled up for some reason.   It is an otherwise exciting time in the garden and I can't wait to see what the coming month will bring!

Cherry Tomato

Tomato

Lettuce

Jalapeno

Garden Update

This year has been quite trying for the garden.  Multiple severe thunderstorms, tornado warnings, and flash floods have left my holding me breath as they blow through town.  Thankfully, there was no frost after we made the transition outside.  The tipping point came a week ago when about three inches of rain fell in three hours.

We were out during most of the storm and it was still raining as we pulled into the driveway.  Approaching the door, I looked into the back yard to take a look at the plants, and I couldn't see them.  Thinking my view had just been obstructed by the rain, I grabbed my umbrella to go out to take a closer look.  When I got there, I saw the tomato plants laying flat on their side, being pelted by the rain.  Panic stricken, I ran to the garage to get my tomato stakes.  As it continued to rain, I put the stakes in the ground and gently lifted the plants and tied them up.  I couldn't step one foot in the garden or it would just sink.  Once the tomatoes were staked, I splashed some of the standing water out of the garden and hoped for the best.

To my delight, most of the plants came out unscathed.  I lost some of my little lettuce sprouts, and a basil plant, but everything else bounced back nicely.  The tomato plants were a bit wilted for a day or two, but they look as strong as ever now.  Overall, the garden is looking great!  One of my cantaloupe seeds finally germinated and we were even able to harvest some of our lettuce to eat with our dinner salads.  It's such an exciting time, everything seems to be growing so fast!

Lettuce

Cucumber

Cantaloupe

Tomato

Grounded

We moved our young plants from the safety of the porch to the big world of the garden over the weekend.  I'm always nervous moving them outside because they look so small on fragile.  But, it needs to be done, and I'm sure they will thrive!

Tomato

(Wisconsin 55)

Cucumber

Lettuce

Pea

There are a few other plants in the garden that didn't really warrant pictures at this time, but I'm sure their time will come soon enough.

We got rid of the little wooden fence we had last year and opted for a white metal variety.  We did this to "Walter-proof" the garden since he essentially destroyed the fence we had last year.  It may not look as nice, but I hope it is effective.  I love to watch our modest little garden grow!

Garden Update

My frost fears in April are all a distant memory as my garden is thriving.  I'm still learning about how far to space the plants since what seemed like a lot of room at the time has quickly been erased by rapidly growing fruits and veggies.  I don't think anything is suffocating, though, and I am quite pleased with has things have turned out so far.

We have definitely been taking advantage of having fresh lettuce this year.  We have been picking mature leaves off the lettuce for about a month now, and they are still going strong.  We haven't had to buy lettuce for so long, and we have been eating salads with out dinner just about every night.  The lettuce us so crisp, fragrant, tender and flavorful.

We are also seeing an abundance of tomato blossoms on all of our tomato plants.  I enjoy seeing these beautiful yellow flowers dotting the sea of green because I know what will soon follow.

Tomatoes!  Along with the flowers, there are also quite a few tomatoes taking shape on the plants.  The plants seem to be a few weeks ahead of where they were last year.  If that means BLT season will start a little early this year, I will be a happy man.

One of the more ominous looking plants in our garden is the artichoke.  It's hard to tell from the picture, but it's sharp pointed leaves look more suited for Jurassic Park than a backyard garden.

I am so excited about the jalapeno plants, too!  I love these little peppers, and the bright little flowers were a welcome sight, especially since I thought they hadn't survived that frosty night.

Speaking of survival stories, our cantaloupe plant is also thriving.  So much so, in fact, I had to weave it's vines out of the garden and into the yard.  It has it's own pretty little yellow flowers to boast, and I am looking forward to the juicy sweet fruits it will soon produce.

Quite a change in month, if you ask me.  I can't wait to see what the end of July will bring!

Garden update

I've learned a lot about gardening in the last year.  The most important lesson I have learned is to not get anxious.  Two days after transplanting my plants outside we had a frost advisory.  The night of the advisory I covered the garden with two bed sheets and hoped for the best.  The next morning there was frost on the ground and I feared the worst.  Before work, I checked under the sheet and my plants seemed no worse for the wear.  My initial relief was short lived because of the next couple of days, some the plants withered and died. 

I was upset with myself.  I couldn't believe what had happened.  We had one of the warmest springs ever, and two days after I moved my plants outside, we had frost.  My garden was ruined and I had no one to blame but myself.  But, as the days went by, the plants that didn't die right away started to show signs of improvement.  They were growing, and they started to look healthier and healthier.  I decided to stop feeling sorry for myself and give those tough little plants the support they needed.

About half the garden was damaged by the frost, so we decided to buy some starter plants to fill the void.  We bought a cherry tomato plant, a basil plant, and pepper plant at a local farmer's market and Valerie's mom gave us a couple of tomato plants she had started from seed.  We added these plants to the garden and it looks really nice.  I feel so much better about our garden, and all the plants are looking strong and healthy now.  Here's a look at the progress so far.

This little tomato plant has had the toughest time surviving the frost.  It couldn't stand up straight, so I tied it to a little stick I out in the ground to help support it.  Hopefully, this will give it the strength it needs.  It's doing pretty good so far.

All the carrots I planted survived the frost.  I planted some more seeds because I don't think this is going to be enough carrots.

All the lettuce I planted survived the frost, too, which surprised me.  It has done remarkably well, and we even used some in our salads last night.  Delicious!

This is our humble garden. 

Germination celebration

Hooray! Some of our seeds have started to sprout. The lettuce was the first to pop out from under the dirt. Not quite enough to eat just yet, so we'll let it grow a little bit more. It is exciting, nonetheless.