Pictures of the garden

Everything is progressing nicely. Too much to blog about so I will show you in pictures :) Be prepare for lots of green foliage!

Spinach

 Lettuce volunteers

Strawberries

Cilantro

Carrots

Peas

Spinach seedlings

Swiss Chard

Bibb lettuce

Garden Update and Happy Easter!

My garden last summer :)

There is so much going on in the garden, I don't know if I can remember everything. I'll try though. Yesterday, I planted out my bell peppers that I got at Rite Aid. The variety is called California Wonder, which is a popular open pollinated variety. There were 8 to 10 plants so I planted them in my second raised bed. I also have marigolds planted in between the plants to bring some color and I have heard they are a good pest deterrent as well. I also planted my bok choi transplants in the ground. I watered them with a fish emulsion mixture.

Everything I planted in the ground, except for some carrots, arrugula, cilantro, and pumpkins (I planted these on Sunday) are sprouting. I also found that I have bean seedlings from last fall. I let some plants go to seed and they are already coming up. :) Oh how I love mother nature!

My heating mat experiment update:

This is going so well. I was pleasantly surprised at how well this thing works. Within a couple of days, I had sprouting. I already have a banana pepper seedling, another ca wonder pepper, supersweet tomato, little prince eggplant, and more! I've also began pre-germinating my bean, pumpkin, sunflower, cucumber, and squash seeds. To see how I pregerminate my beans, check out this link. It is super easy. I found that if I do that and place them on my heating pad, I'll get sproutage in 2-3 days! Yeah for the heating mat. I'll do a more in depth review once the season has started.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter. We did. It was a great day of catching up and of course the adult Easter Egg hunt (my shoes were muddy) :) Can't wait until next year!

Seed Sowing List 03-29-10

 Picture of lettuce, tomato, and garlic in Spring 2009

Today's seed sowing list is full of herbs,corn, lettuce and flowers:

Herbs:

• Lemon balm (Groco Seeds) 
• Cilantro (American Seed) 
• Sage (Burpee) 
• Oregano (Groco Seeds) 
• Fennel, Florence (Burpee) 
• Dill (trade) 
• Asparagus (trade) 

Lettuce:

• Baby romaine (trade) 

 Flowers:

• Snapdragon first ladies mixed (Sow n Grow)
• Morning Glory giant mixed colors (Sow n Grow) 
• Four o Clocks mix (Burpee) 

Corn:

• Popcorn (my own kitchen) 
• Corn Chinese baby (trade)

Growing Swiss Chard: the Colorful Spinach Substitute

Last year, I started growing swiss chard for the first time. I only grew several plants because I wasn't for sure if I would like the taste or not. Anywhoo, it grew like crazy and I was able to make one dish with it. I cooked it like spinach, sauteeing it with some olive oil and garlic. After it wilted a little, I added some lemon juice and red pepper flakes. It was a great side dish. Swiss chard is such an easy plant to grow and the varieties are endless. They have a variety called rainbow swiss chard and the colors are amazing. They're a perfect addition to any vegetable garden or a side plant in the front yard. They're a vegetable that I can't live without. What do you guys think about this one?

This year, I was determined to grow continuous crops of swiss chard. The first batch, I started in January. January 1st to be exact. They took a week to sprout and grew like mad. At first they were leggy and spinly but after a couple of weeks, they grew thick stems and strengthened up really well.

Swiss Chard Seedlings at 31 days

I moved them outside in the ground in an area that gets late morning sun, a couple of weeks before my last frost, around February 11th. They looked so puny and defenseless. To protect them from critters like the dreaded slugs and snails, I would cover them with plastic cups for the next two weeks at night and uncover them in the morning before work. It worked. The snails didn't get too much of them and they grew very well.

Swiss Chard Transplanted

So they grew and they grew without too many problems. Not a pest to be found. I'm still crossing my fingers! Here they are a month and a half later, still growing steadily:

Swiss Chard 59 days

And grew they did. I'll probably harvest these soon and make some yummy side dishes.

Swiss Chard 90 days

Here are some pics of the other swiss chard plants I have laying around the garden. I plan on planting them in a spot near my fence that gets regular morning sun. They really enjoy full sun but part sun wouldn't hurt them much.

Happy gardening everyone!

Seed Sowing Update

The seeds I planted approximately 2 weeks ago have begun to sprout. I planted bok choi, 4 o clocks, broccoli, carrots (a round variety), spinach, mesclun mix, peas, beets, and more. I cannot remember everything I planted though. I always do this every year. I plant all these things and find out later I cannot recall what I planted. I’ll just wait until they’ve grown enough to distinguish what it is! I hope it’s not weed seeds though. For a great seed starting book, check out All New Square Foot Gardening: Grow More in Less Space!. I love the details and the precise information it provides.