Planted: jalapeno, okra, tomatoes

4 okra: Box 4 - DB, DC and Box 5 - AB, DB
2 jalapeno (seeds) - Box 4 CB and Box 5 CB
16 chives: Box 4 DD
2 Tomatoes (San Marzano) - Box 4 - AC, AD
1 Tomato (yellow pear) - Box 4 - AA

More on Swiss Chard sprouts

After a little digging around, I came across this swiss chard page on growingtaste.com.

A chard "seed" is actually a cluster of seeds in a dried fruit: often, several seedlings will grow from each fruit; hand-thinning is almost always necessary (and important). Chard is notoriously slow to germinate, so the seedlings may emerge over a relatively long period of time, making a stand of different sizes and ages of seedlings.

So, there it is. when the seedlings are another half inch or so, I'll have to thin.

Swiss Chard sprouts

For the swiss chard, I am pretty sure I planted a total of 8 seeds, four per square, each 6" apart. The seeds are pretty big, so I think I would remember cramming more than one below the soil. All of the swiss chard though pops up with multiple sprouts. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to cut down any of them to let only one produce or not. For now, I'll leave it, but I may need to do some research here.

Planted: Radishes, Lima Beans, Garden Beans, Raab

16 Radishes: Box 3 CA
18 Lima Beans (Baby Fordhook): Box 4 CB, Box 5 CB
18 Garden Beans (French Filet): Box 4 BB, Box 5 BB
3 Broccoli Raab: Box 4 AB, AC, AD

Rainy day today

We look like we're getting the rain and cool air today. Nothing but 50-something degrees, gray skies and fat ol' rain drops. This is because I planted muskmelon (cantaloupe) seeds yesterday, which I am told needs average soil temperatures to be warm. Well, it is supposed to be in the 70s tomorrow, so we'll mend this temporary temp dip shortly.

The marketmore cucumbers (Box 3, Column D) popped up yesterday.


And a couple of the Kentucky Wonder garden beans (Box 6, Column A) did, too.


And you may be able to see a few of these sprouts in the photo, but our make you feel good about yourself, tried and true swiss chard is coming up too.

Planted: Cilantro, Basil, Muskmelons, tomatoes???

8 Cilantro - Box 3 AA, AB
8 Basil (Genovese Italian) - Box 3 BA, BB
16 Basil (Genovese Italian) - Box 1 Row C
4 Muskmelon (Earlichamp) (Cantaloupe) - Box 4 Row A

I removed all of the radishes from Box 1. They did not fair so well. I'll replant and get them some more sun. We'll see if that does the trick.

Memorial Day Weekend

Look at the garden and our pine needle walkways! Cedar Run Landscapes sells pine needle mulch which Lauren and I took a shine to. There is cardboard underneath everything, so I don't expect too many weeds to come up through the walkways. It is looking almost like a garden... if only I could get something to grow ;)

Alex was here this weekend. He helped me trim the trees to give the garden a bit more light during the day. I think it will continue to be less than optimal with sunlight for the garden, but we'll see what happens over the summer.
Alex also started digging around the yard to see what is busted with the sprinkler system. It appears to have been sub-optimally built and further destroyed by the changes the previous owners did through remodeling the house and regrading the yard. The best option seems to be to redo the whole thing. I'm excited by the prospect of getting water directly to the beds through underground pipes and whatnot. This may take some time though... it is quite a mess.

Planted: Salad Bowl, Butterhead, Carrots, Parsley

8 Lettuce Leaf (Salad Bowl): Box 3 BC, BD
8 Lettuce Butterhead (Tom Thumb): CC, CD
8 Flat Italian Parsley: Box 3 AC, AD
16 Carrots (Carnival Blend): Box 3 CB

Charlene planted the carrots!

Alex brought his knowledge to the yard and advised us to soak the seeds overnight.

Planted: Swiss Chard, Fennel, Cucumbers, Garden Beans

8 Swiss Chard: Box 2 CC, CD
8 Fennel: Box 2 DC, DD
8 Cucumbers (Marketmore): Box 3 Column D
32 Garden Beans (Pole) (Kentucky Wonder): Box 6 Column A

radish envy

What it is is not what I was going for.
 
Common wisdom places this as either a lack of sun or too much nitrogen in the soil. Let's assume lack of sun. Leaves have grown in on trees and perhaps my placement of the garden is not ideal.

garden under construction