Week 7: 27 May -- Everything but the Garlic

If I wrote for "Lost" I would make you wait a few more postings to let you know the fate of the tomatoes that I was fretting about last week, I know you have all been on the edge of your seats since then and I do appreciate the candles that a few or you have left outside my door (the tomatoes appreciate them too). I will give you full details in the next post but the tomatoes do seem to have come through last week's cold snap, not unscathed but they look like they will make it. The eggplant (and cucumbers, surprisingly) did not fare as well and were replaced this weekend.

But let's talk about the rest of the garden for a minute. Peas and lettuce continue to do well. I'm hoping for a salad in two weeks (which is ideal as I have my first bout of summer company then) and the peas are slowly finding their way up the trellis. All good stuff. The beans have yet to emerge but I'm not concerned, normal germination is two weeks and they've only been in for one.

The zucchini and yellow squash are thriving and I'm now concerned about volume. The vines have already started showing their fruit and it looks like I'll be up to my neck in zukes this year.

My second round of lettuce is already starting and the Italian garden (parsley, basil and plum tomatoes) is doing molto bene. In fact, the plum tomatoes are doing the best of all the tomatoes.

This spiny looking guy is an artichoke plant. They're very alien looking. I wasn't able to find them but Melissa tracked some down this week and picked them up for me. I was thrilled that she remembered that I was looking and that I got to see her place when I went to collect them. Her garden and grounds gives me new things to aspire to and I'm extremely envious of her stunning barn!


In addition to the chokes, the last remaining beds were filled. The first was a bed of cut flowers. The color will really help the garden and it'll be neat to cut a few for a vase on the deck or in the house.





Behind the cuts is my pumpkin patch. I'm hoping to have fruits by Halloween. I planted four hills worth (hard to tell from the picture but there are little mounds in the bed) and each hill has five seeds. I'll probably have to thin them out once they get started as I don't think I'll manage to fit 20 pumpkins in there.

All this means that everything I am going to plant this year has gone in except for the garlic which will be planted in and among the pumpkins starting in July. I'll also throw in one more round of lettuce in the pea bed once they have done their thing and fixed the nitrogen in the soil.