What a difference two weeks makes in the garden!
April 30 (top photo) and May 15 (bottom photo). Hah! We had a sunny April day and a very rainy, dreary May day.....should have been just the opposite.
The cabbages are getting huge. This Red Ace measures 28-inches across. So much for the Square Foot spacing guide of 12". I planted these on 18" centers, which may still be too close!
This broccoli has reached 20-inches in height.
The yellowed tomato plants have all turned a healthy green since planting them out in the garden. I thought these Brandywines (and all the potato leaf varieties) were going to expire, they looked so bad when I set them out. It looks like they'll make it just fine now.
Finally! I didn't think the raspberries were ever going to bloom this year. They are more than a full month later than last year.I'm almost finished with indoor sowing of seeds. None too soon, I'm getting tired of "baby sitting".
Four tomato seedlings are living on the patio, as I have nowhere else left to plant them. I don't know why I can't just toss them in the compost, but I can't. That's a Yellow Brandywine on the top shelf (it's in a plastic cup hidden behind the container of basil). The lower shelf has an extra unknown cherry tomato from Fiona, an extra Matt's Wild Cherry from Robin, and a teensy tiny Sungold from Daphne. The Sungold was planted way back in mid-March, but it refuses to grow. I'll keep nursing it along and see what I get, but my hopes aren't too high. 
A few new seedlings are growing in the plant window. Seven containers hold bush butternut squash seeds that were pre-sprouted this week. I have some planted outside, but so far they are a no-show, so these are backups. Three of the cups in the center container have bush cucumbers, and there is another tomato from Debbie Clegg that is a heat loving variety. I will have to find a spot for it soon.
Your garden always makes me smile! I'm with you on the tomatoes...I have 10 *left-overs* I just can't seem to part with! I'm going to put them in big buckets and tuck them in the flower beds.
ReplyDeleteWOW! Annie what are you feeding them? they are monsters :o) Get those canning jars ready, your going to be busy with all the Harvest..Good goings. I remember how you broke your back..Don't run out of Aleve :o)
ReplyDeleteI love all the orphans LOL, I have no doubt you will find a place for them all!
ReplyDeleteThose are some giant cabbages and broccoli - they are looking good! They must be real happy with whatever you've been feeding them. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI'm tired of babysitting too, but what else can you do? It's hard for me to toss plants in the compost, but in a couple of weeks that's what I'll do with whatever I got left.
Lynda, I'm out of buckets! Oh, I do have two smaller ones, but I think they'll have to be used for cucumbers. I hate to buy any, 'cause I really am planting fewer tomatoes next year. Heh. You've heard that before, haven't you?
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Ginny, I know I planted way more cabbages than I can use. I'll have to make sauerkraut for Mr. Granny, huh?
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Erin, I hope so. Even if I end up using the "non-plantable" area between the kennel and the fence. They probably wouldn't have a chance growing there, but I could at least say I'd tried.
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Villager (and Ginny), maybe that concoction I mixed up a couple weeks ago did work. I put some composted manure into a bucket, then added some alfalfa pellets, corn meal, fish emulsion and molasses. Filled the bucket with water and let it set for a couple of days, then poured the liquid into some gallon jugs, capped them and shook them a few times a day for about a week. diluted the resulting concoction with a bit more water and drenched the cabbages and broccoli. Sure did stink, but they grew a lot!
Wow! Those brassicas really grew quickly! The garden looks great.
ReplyDeleteIt's so nice to have these blogs for comparisons from week to week. Your garden is growing by leaps and bounds.
ReplyDeleteAnd the secret to getting rid of un-needed plants without being "the villain"?? Put a FREE sign on them by the curb or find some unsuspecting young victim just starting out in gardening. Put on your best "sweet lady" smile and stick it to em!
:D
Wow, amazing looking plants! In my two weeks the tomatoes look sicklier than before, the broccoli isn't growing but I lost another to the slugs. Glad to see the East Washington weather is finally living up to its reputation! Well done!
ReplyDeleteI usually babysit my seedlings all summer long. I just keep making more to fill in the spots. I learned long ago that the slugs would eat any direct seeded plant with a small seed. They didn't stand a chance. This year though I keep thinking that I could do it, but I guess I'm set in my ways.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Katrina. I think I'll mix up a bit more of the "magic potion" and drench the rest of the garden!
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Sue, last year I had about 40 extra plants, and I did just that. They were all gone within 15 minutes! The few I have this year are late starters, except for the Brandywine, and people want something extra special, even if they are free. I put my leftover peppers in the flower containers out front, I might just plant tomatoes out there too!
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Sinfonian, you've had such a terrible time with your plants this year. I think you have chickens on your mind, rather than gardening!
I'm having some slug problems too, so I put Sluggo out yesterday....then we got a cloudburst. It's probably all washed away.
Daphne (do you know how many times I've called you Dapne?), I get sick of seedlings early, so tend to give up on them. I am keeping my lettuce going, but now it's by scattering the seed somewhere outside and covering it to keep the birds out. I need to devise another cover though, as it's now beginning to grow up through the netting.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about throwing them out! It's like a knife to the heart! My seedlings just aren't going to cut it this year. Which means buying plants again. Errr. All that time/seeds etc is very disappointing. I am "Seed" challenged.
ReplyDeleteOh wow, what a different 2 weeks make indeed! How nicely everything has grown. So... jealous! LOL.
ReplyDeleteEverything is looking good, you are a work horse. I am amazed at how much you get accomplished. Sometimes I feel like I can't keep up with my garden, and I don't know how you do it.
ReplyDeleteAPG, it seems like I spend an awful lot of money on seed starting supplies, and an awful lot of time planting, watering, worrying and hardening off. Sometimes I think it would be easier to go back to buying the plants. At least I wouldn't end up with too many!
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Aw, Meems, you're garden will get there soon! I didn't think mine would ever start growing, and I'm still wondering why my carrots are so small.
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Kris, thank you. I don't have to spend all my time setting my corn and sugar snap peas upright...like somebody else I know! LOL, that gives me more time to garden.
You got that right! :)
ReplyDeleteI love before and after pics - showing the progression of the plant's growth. It is indeed amazing what two weeks of time can achieve - particularly if the plants are getting what they need to grow well.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe that plants grow so much in just two weeks!! I know that they do, but I still can't believe it. Don't you have problems with cabbage worms? They don't seem to be under covers. Last year, all the leaves of my cabbage plants were badly infested.
ReplyDeleteRandom, first I'm going to knock on wood, then say no. I have seen cabbage moths fluttering on occasion, but so far they seem to like the Sweet Williams better than the brassicas. Last year I had no problems (slugs yes, cabbage worms no). For what it's worth, I've been pruning my thyme and scattering the clippings around the brassicas in that bed. Thyme is supposed to be a deterrent. However, I've not put any in the other bed, and I haven't seen any "pretty white butterflies" over there, either.
ReplyDeleteNow just watch, I'll get an infestation of worms and it will be all your fault ;-)
Kitsap, that rain you guys sent over last night should help, too. too bad I had just watered my garden!
ReplyDeleteI understand about not being able to compost the seedlings. This is how I ended up with 4 pots of zucchini!
ReplyDeleteCharmcity, I don't know what you're going to do with all that zucchini! I only had one plant last year, and after I filled up my freezer, and gave a ton or two away to my kids, I was out in my driveway chucking them at passing cars! ;-)
ReplyDeleteWow, the garden really is green and growing! Looks great. Are you loving your new bed design?
ReplyDeleteMy raspberries have not flowered yet, only the strawberries are blooming and setting fruit at the moment.
Kelly, visually the garden isn't as pretty this year, but it was easier to plant, and I think I got more stuff in it. One thing that takes away from the "prettiness" are the dead tomato, bean and squash plants on the other side of the fence. The new neighbor evidently is not going to clean them out. I'm also not liking the looks of the straw in the paths, but that will be used as mulch for the plants once it has aged a bit. I do wish I could make the east garden wider, so that I had a path down each side. Won't happen, 'cause I'm not moving those fence posts.
ReplyDeleteYour garden is looking great. I didn't think my garden was growing much until I started looking at pictures that I took at the beginning of the month.
ReplyDeleteI hope the heat wave tomato does well for you.
Debbie, I hope so too. It' still small, but I started it pretty late. I figured it might just start setting fruit when the others shut down due to the heat.....like am I ever going to get any heat? It's still in a cup in the window, so I have to figure out just where it can be planted. I'm so out of room! I have one more bucket, by the patio, it's a possibility.
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