garden update


Oh be still my heart. It's full swing into gardening season... and things are taking off. It actually makes me nervous to say that. Like did I just jinx the whole thing? I was pretty nervous a few weeks ago. Despite starting seeds very early, all of my plants were small... well that has changed ... a bit.

My friend at the local hardware store told me about this incredible soil called Happy Frog - although she introduced it to me as Jamaican Frog. Apparently it's so incredible that people love to use it to grow marijuana at home. While I'm really only interested in growing tomatoes, I figured it still would be a homerun for non-marijuana growing. The fertilizer looks like dirty brown water so that must mean it is organic. I'm sold. The garden is accidentally all organic this year.

Here's the rundown of where we are this year:

Peppers // So a bit of a mixed bag here. The plants that I bought full-size are doing pretty well. There are some good flowers on there - and I noticed an itty bitty baby green pepper show up this weekend. The two plants grown from seed are pretty far behind. I'm not sure that I'll ever seen a pepper from the "good as gold" variety. I'm just going to keep giving these guys some fertilizer each week and hope for the best.

Tomatoes // Some of these are really hitting their stride - and some are slower. The Red Lightening is the slowest and the Black Krim seems to be the most productive so far. There are flowers on just about every single plant which is very encouraging. I am a little worried about the plants outside the garden. They definitely seem most prone to disease as some of the leaves have shown spots and curling. The roma plant does have some sizable fruit on it - and absolutely the furthest ahead in terms of growth.

Zucchini // Totally taken off in the last week. I woke up one morning and there was a blossom - and then the next morning I swear there were like five. The internet did tell me that I could make zucchini climb the trellis but I'm unsure about how that actually happens. I need to do a little research on that. This plant does not seem willing to climb.

Cucumbers // So, of the two varieties planted by seed.... I had zero hopes for the last couple weeks. Then - the Mexican Gherkin seemed to actually show up to the party. I'm not sure how this will go but it is making slow progress towards being a real, productive plant. I'm nervous but it would be cool if this worked out.

Peas & Beans // The beans are predictably doing fine - but I'm surprised by how slow the peas are. Initially I had planted some snap peas that were a total failure - like maybe 15% germination? So I bought some snow peas from Aubuchon Hardware and tossed those in there. They germinated really quickly but have been slower to climb the trellis. There has been a bit more growth in the last couple days as I've seen them reach for the twine. It's kind of incredible how strong the little vines are. Magical nature.

Carrots & Radishes // Mixed bag here. The normal carrots up front in the garden are doing well - but the purplesnax that I planted behind the zucchini is much slower. I'm probably a week away from a radish harvest? This year I will actually eat them. I should start searching for an inspiring radish recipe. I assume they exist.

Kale & Lettuce // Doing well - but the lettuce went from being red and green.... to like all red. Which is fine, but also like what happened to the green. This was supposed to be "mixed greens" and it is really just red lettuce.

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