A greens harvest last weekend
The bed after first planting
Baby squash transplant
Tomato transplant
Aphids. I sprayed soapy water and rubbed the leaves and most of them are gone now.
Basil transplant
Broccoli
Bush bean sprouts. I had to take a picture of this last week. I have been so amazed by the power of seeds lately. I am fascinated by the way we take dry seeds that have been in a pack for who knows how long, put them in some soil, add water and they change so dramatically. The beautiful, bright, first leaves come out of the the tiny seed. I love it. These sprouts are about 2 inches high now.
Eggplant that was started from seed
Greens ready to be harvested
Girls help fill seed trays with soil. Yesterday we started more basil, eggplant, tomatoes, sweet peppers, and parsley.
We had a little scare this week with the late frost. We knew we were taking a chance when we planted 2 weeks before the local frost date of April 15:) We were prepared though. We mulched around each plant and on top of some. We also put cups or tarp over the plants. Everything turned out fine. Even our fruit trees weren't effected since it was a light frost. You can see in this picture all the wheat straw and in the background the tarps that were over the beds.
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4 comments:
Great work! Can't wait to see the pix six weeks from now. Love the picture of Ellen in the straw hat!
Thanks for posting this Jen. It will be cool to look back once things are prospering...if they do...I hope they will...oh the stress.
It's going to be exciting. I am so glad the girls are learning to grow as well. The picture of them filling the seed trays reminds me of all the good education they are getting under your tutelage.
As always, grateful.
Daniel
Once things prosper??!!! Daniel, they already are...look at that table full of greens. We have only had one salad from our garden so far...and what a wonderful salad it was, but your greens are producing spectacularly! Can't wait to see the garden in full force this July when we hopefully pass through.
Keep up the great work and enjoy the tasty rewards.
Love you all.
Lesley and Jason (in response to the above),
You are absolutely right. Those greens are great. That was our winter harvest which is still producing, but tailing off. And every bit is so good. When I reread my post I can understand how it might have sounded illegitimate (the worry). Here is what I was thinking (to motivate the worry a little):
We do have some very serious issues:
1) Very sandy soil. As the heat picks up and the Spring rain pulls back we are at risk of not being able to sustain moisture levels in the soil.
2) Nutrients. Our sandy soil is not conditioned for gardening. That could take years. So again, there is real risk that things won't grow as they should or could in better conditions.
3)When 1+2 reduce the health of the plants they become more susceptible to pests and disease.
4)No money. Both these problems could be minimized with money, of which we have very little.
So, you remind me that we have a lot and have come a long way. But as we learn more and watch the tenuous nature of growing under our conditions I can't help but wonder how it will all turn out. And, probably because we have invested SO MUCH MORE time and energy this year the worries grow proportionally. We lose more when we lose.
What assuages my worry to some degree is the resilience of nature itself. It generally defies my expectations by being much tougher than I imagine. And of course I have great teammates who are willing to work hard at sustaining a healthy garden as best we can. Fortunately, also, there are many ways to mitigate the effects of 1-4 that are organic, sustainable, cheap, and anti-corporate, pro-community. And that is real hope.
Daniel
PS-you all are passing through in July? That would be the BOMB! And, that should indeed be a great gardening time, right in the peak. Tell me more about this passing through. What can I do to make it happen? ;-)
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