Delinquent

Peas and Lettuce finished up around June 1.

Beans are in starting around June 1.

Squash are almost ready - June 12.

Tomatoes have green fruit, but not any ripening.

Leeks and Onions are overtaken by weeds.

Radishes still not doing well.

peppers don't look great. blooms but no fruit yet.

potatoes still going great guns...we'll see what happens.

Planting - March 21

Today is beautiful. A bit cooler than average - highs in the upper 50's, but it is very nice for planting. Today I added the potatoes to the garden. I planted them over by the crepe myrtle and sweet gum tree, so as to be out of the way. I also planted a second crop of radishes. So far, my radishes are the only things that look like maybe they are being eaten. I need to get my spray bottle of soapy water going.

I still have so many things to plant and I already feel as though I'm running out of space. The prime real estate, of course, is reserved for tomatoes and peppers, which will be delivered in mid-April. There are many other things still left to find homes for, including my perennial veggies, many of which are going nicely in flats right now.

As for the things that have already been planted, they are looking good. The radishes are up. The peas look like every single one that I planted has come up. The garlic, lettuce, and spinach are doing well. Still no signs of onions, leeks, or strawberry spinach. I'll keep monitoring the situation, though.

Is that a shamrock?

It's not a shamrock, but a radish! Yay, the first outside seedlings are up.

Peas

Lettuce

My indoor babies

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day

The 15th of each month is Garden Bloggers Bloom Day (GBBD). Here is what is blooming in my neck of the woods:

Forsythia

Creeping Rosemary

Cherry trees

Not pictured, but also blooming:
Bradford Pear tree
Daffodils
Phlox

New Addition

A late addition to this week's planting was garlic. Thanks, Patty! I planted it in the next row today. Also got sunburned! Note to self - In NC, wear sunscreen in March!

Planting Plans!

I have big planting plans. The highs this weekend will be unseasonably warm - low 80's! This, after snow on Monday. Oh the craziness of springtime.

I will be planting:
Peas
Spinach
Strawberry Spinach
Onions
Yukon Gold Potatoes
Lettuce Mixture
Radishes
Leeks

Snow!

March 2, 2009. Two inches of snow in my Zone 7b garden. :-( So much for my overly optimistic thoughts of planting early things around March 1. I read that technically March 15 is our date. I will look at the weather and the seven day forecast and might try for March 7. ;-) I am anxious to get our greens going - lettuce, spinach, etc. so that we will have plenty before it gets too hot.

Sow those seeds

The first set of seeds has been sown in a seed tray indoors:

Brandywine tomatoes
Eggplant
Rhubarb
Asparagus
Sorrel

The rest of my garden

In the fall, I bought some seeds to have a winter garden and also a perennial garden collection. I dug out those seeds and here is what I have.

Perennials:
Rhubarb
Artichoke
Asparagus
SeaKale
Scallions
Sorrel
Perennial Greens (Good King Henry)

Other:
Broccoli
Spinach (oops...guess I have a lot of spinach)
Boothby's Blonde Cucumber
Plum Purple Radish
Australian Brown Onions
Giant MusselburghLeeks

Seeds & Plants Ordered

Today I ordered seeds and plants from Seed Savers Exchange. I have decided to order from there, because it was recommended in "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle," as a good organization that is trying to prevent the extinction of many varieties of heirloom fruits and vegetables. It is amazing to look through the catalog and discover that tomatoes don't have to be red. There are purple, green, gold, black, and striped tomatoes, in addition to red ones.

Certainly it is true that when buying seeds, one's eyes can be bigger than one's garden. However, I am excited to expand our garden this year to better use our existing raised bed and to take advantage of some new areas of our landscape. I'm hoping that it works out, but it will certainly be an experiment. That is one of the reasons I started this blog.

Here is what I ordered:

Seeds:
Bean, Painted Pony OG
Eggplant, Rosa Bianca
Lettuce, SSE Lettuce Mixture
Pea, Sutton's Harbinger
Runner Bean, Painted Lady
Squash, Summer Crookneck
Spinach, Strawberry
Tomato, Brandywine
Watermelon, Blacktail Mtn
Squash, Thelma Sanders
Melon, Noir des Carmes

Plants:
Transplants, Tomato Sampler
Transplant, Aunt Molly's Ground Cherries
Transplant, Alma Paprika Peppers
Transplant, Buran Peppers
Transplant, Beam's Yellow Tomatoes
Transplant, Wenk's Peppers

The total for the seeds was $30.25 + $7 S&H. The total cost for the plants is $33 plus quite a bit of S&H. The plants will be shipped April 6-8.

Cleaning up

This weekend was the first warm weekend of the year, high temperatures around 70.

• Cleared debris and weeds (plenty of small thistles).
• Added top soil to raised garden.
• Trimmed rosemary and oregano.
• Split daylilies.

The daffodils are up and have buds. Iris are up.

Around the neighborhood, the redbuds are blooming.