May 22, 2011 - Garden Progress

I took the camera with me as I wandered through the garden tonight. It was late, so only the north and west gardens got photographed before it got too dark. That's probably a good thing, since I still ended up with twenty-one pictures!

My Sunsweet Cherry tomato has its first blossoms. This is my only store bought plant. My Sungolds failed to germinate, and this was the closest to it that I could find.

Two Cherokee Purple tomatoes, an Early Jalapeno pepper, and a pot of flowers among the strawberries in the west bed.

Two more Cherokee Purple tomatoes and more flowers at the other end of this west bed. The Cherokee Purples are healthy and green now, after looking a bit sickly early on, and all four of them have buds forming.

Next to the garden shed are a Bloody Butcher (green bucket) and two Coastal Pride Orange tomatoes in the containers. Some dwarf zinnias have been planted in front of the bucket.

The Bloody Butcher will bear the first ripe tomatoes of the year.

This is a pot of compact dill. I love this plant, as it stays quite short and stocky. It also self seeds prolifically. I had some planted next to the fence in the east garden last year, and now I see it is growing all over the neighbor's bed along the fence line. It's the only thing green growing over there, besides the Bermuda grass and some invasive weeds. :-(

Another Bloody Butcher (blue bucket), the Meyer Lemon tree, a pot of oregano and more dwarf zinnias live in this corner by the shed.

I pruned back the lemon tree a couple weeks ago, and it's beginning to branch out with new leaves. It's also getting ready to bloom again. It has been in bloom several times, and developed little green nubbins of fruit, but none have yet survived. Last month I repotted it with new soil and fed it some citrus fertilizer, but it's still not looking real great. I think it needs some warm days and sunshine.

The lettuce in the bed behind the shed is flourishing. It seems to get the perfect amount of shade and sunshine in its own cool little micro-climate.

It is still protected by the plastic netting, so the birds haven't been able to feast on it. I've already harvested the back two rows of Little Gem and Buttercrunch, and they have been replaced with seedlings from the whiskey barrel. Those were leftover seeds, all mixed together, but it looks like most of them are Romaine, probably Parris Island Cos.

I had to add some bird protection to the whiskey barrel lettuce nursery. This lettuce is growing so quickly, I'll soon have to begin snipping the leaves for salads.

Three hills of Bush Butternut squash.

It looks like the slugs have already found the seedlings.

The north brassica bed continues to put on tremendous growth. I grew all of these plants from seed, and was extremely careful with my labeling. So how did that broccoli end up in the cabbage bed? I know it had a "Golden Acre Cabbage" label.

The broccoli are beginning to form heads.

The cabbages are also beginning to head up.

The Royal Burgundy bush beans are beginning to grow. Soon their foliage will hide the ugly green tomato buckets.

Unfortunately, the slugs (possibly) found the Fortex pole beans, and they will have to be replanted. Last week there were also carrots coming up in this bed, and now they are all gone. They too will have to be replanted. I think the quail wiped out the carrots, but maybe the slugs were extra hungry. I put out slug traps and got nothing, so who knows which culprits did the dirty deeds.

I have never planted turnips, as nobody in the family will touch them with a ten foot pole. I happen to like them, so I decided to plant a couple of rows this spring. I didn't know they got so huge! That's a 5-gallon bucket behind two (yes TWO) turnips. These are Purple Top White Globe turnips. I felt around the base of those leaves, and I don't think bulbs are forming.

The raspberries are absolutely loaded with blossoms, and I've seen many, many honey bees each day. Oh, I wish they would hurry and ripen!

One nosy little Otto dog followed me through the garden tonight. The Annie dog was too lazy sleepy to bother.