May 25, 2020

I gathered 5 or 6 containers and put them on the edge of the garden by the fencing and put two rows in each pot, about four seeds each spaced perhaps two inches apart. This is kind willy-nilly so we will see how they pop up!

Otherwise, garden is looking really good. I am very pleased thus far, and it’s really exciting to see things starting to grow.

The arugula is taking off like crazy, and the true leaves are starting to show. That will be nice. The transplanted kale has certainly taken root and growing really well. No kale has popped up yet, though, which is interesting. Pretty much everything in the first row appears to have germinated except maybe the kale and broccoli. Not seeing too much evidence of the carrots, either. Spinach looks really good so far, lettuce is coming in OK. I feel like the next week or two weeks will be big growth in the greens row (row one).

I am especially excited about the lentils, which have really taken off all of the sudden. That was the very, very first sprout, but it was a weed! And now the row of lentils has come up and they look really nice, uniform and strong.

All of the transplants appear to be doing OK, except maybe a few of the weakest chard plants. Hopefully those can take root and survive because I love swiss chard. The berry box is looking really good and the strawberries seem to be taking hold. The blueberry plant is beautiful! It is flowering. My experimental severed raspberry stalk will likely die but that is fine. Plenty more of those. I will try to tie up the raspberry canes to enhance fruiting this year. Gotta do more research on that. The blackberry bushes haven’t seemed to grow at all, but they aren’t dying either so that is OK.

It will probably take another week or so at least for the other transplants to show growth, I’d think. I am really looking forward to the other rows to start popping up… should be sooner than later! Although I’m nearing 3 weeks in the very first row (the greens row), and just 3 days since I sowed a lot of seeds. These next two weeks will be kind of slow, but I really hope things take and by then we are off.

I am excited to mulch around the plants and I have a lot of organic material to do so with. I just have to plan a little bit on how to use it in the best way… mix it all together? Probably the best bet.

The indoor garden, which is really what I am excited about developing further, is not doing so hot, unfortunately. Many of the seeds haven’t sprouted at all, at least in one tray. The beans are looking really good, and the herb tray is hit and miss. They all started drooping, I did some research, started feeding water from the tray itself instead of spraying the tops, and things seemed to recover. Well, one of the early sprouting tomato or pepper seedlings look pretty well dead. I might need to start that whole one over again. I’d like to try peppers strictly indoors.

Finally, the potato shoots look really good and they’re starting to grow. The spuds haven’t done anything and I don’t really know what to expect! All in all, really good and I am super exciting! These next two weeks should be fun to watch.

May 22, 2020

I filled out the many containers now dotting the big plot. I also filled in pretty much the rest of the four rows in the big plot with various items.

The four big containers on the side of the front porch have (from back to front):

• Beets
• Mustard
• Brussel Sprouts
• Carrot Touchan

I kind of just spread seeds around and put dirt over the top with these ones.

In the third row (closest to the house), I filled the last two big containers with Yellow Onion starts from Menards.

In the second row, I transplanted starts into the bigger containers (from front to back):

• Yellow Onion
• Tomato Roma
• Tomato Roma

In the first row (furthest from house) I transplanted starts into containers (from front yard to back):

• Tomato
• Tomato
• Chard
• Tomato

In the second row itself, I transplanted a bunch of starts:

• Pepper Banana
• Pepper
• Pepper
• Tomato Roma
• Tomato Roma
• Tomato Roma
• Tomato
• Tomato
• Tomato
• Chard
• Chard
• Chard
• Chard
• Chard

Finally, I filled a bin with soil and put a trash bag around the sides to block the sunlight from penetrating the soil (?? don’t know if that needed to be done…), and filled the back with potato spuds, and the front with potato shoots.

Finally, I filled the first and third row last containers with Parsley that had been soaking in warm water for a day. I have to remember this one because I can’t see any plants yet!!

I have just a handful of empty containers in the garden, plus 8 or 10 on my front porch that would be great for herbs.