weekend of rain and growth

This weekend, I was barely able to get in some dirt work - I still had the south-side garden to finish up with loosening the soil, covering with compost, then some cardboard, and a layer of mulch/compost on top of that (called "lasagne" method) - but I got it in late this afternoon. now all the beds have been composted! (late, i know...).

So I have a few more beds ready for something to grow, but I have no seedlings that need placement. I do have a few crowded garden beds that I want to space out, so I'm sure I'll have something to plant. If not, there are always more seeds wanting to be planted!

The zucchini plants are really starting to get large now, very quickly. I think it must've been the heat that we had on Thursday/Friday. The tomato plants (especially the Early Girl that I received free from some real estate people wanting to sell properties) are becoming greener and larger. I also found 2 volunteer tomato plants popping up - one is a san marzano, I believe, and the other one is a cherry tomato.

T planted a whole bunch of nasturtium seeds and I see them all popping up everywhere. We will have to work on his spacing technique, but I can't wait to see them all flowering - it will definitely be a beautiful sight.

The corn plants are growing well. It is now that I realize how terribly close I planted them all together. I just hope they are okay with the snug space they have. I just loved the corn we grew last season!

All except one seed potato that I planted have sprouted, and are gaining speed very quickly. It is so exciting to see a new type of vegetable (to me) flourishing in the first season! I just wonder how high I can mound it and if the hight I can go will be enough for a good harvest. I think we may be getting a pound of potatoes per plant...we'll see.

Garlic Success!

The garlic plants that I planted near the cherry tree were looking a bit wind-swept, yellow, and nearly lying parallel to the ground, so I thought they were probably ready to harvest. It is just the beginning of May so it could've been a bit too early, but...

Sunday, my son and I dug up 20 nice heads of garlic! some were quite huge too! I left the leaves on and braided them all together (thought I'd try, although from what I've been reading, I think I should have let it dry a bit first in a cool/well-ventilated area first before doing so...oh well....learning adventures!) and hung them out on an unused trellis, next to the house where it gets very little sun. The rest of the week should be rather hot and dry, so they should be okay for at least this week.

Now I have to think what I can plant back there...I have some tomato plants in front of that area, so I may plant more back there...or the rest of the peppers that I still have to get into the ground... :-) decisions, decisions!