State of the Garden...9 May 2008

There has been so much activity in the garden this week...at least with the plants. Not to say that I don't do what needs to be done, it's just that the plants have been growing so much that they dwarf my efforts.

On to the progress!

I went ahead and re-potted all the starts that didn't have places in the beds. I know, it is getting ridiculous that I've kept them so long, but I am doing succession planting so I'm justifying doing it for that reason. Who knows...some of them might actually get kept. It is a bit embarrassing, but here is my work table for now; the old trampoline.

In the herb arena, the Stevia seems to be doing well. There are no more indications of the gray mold or powdery mildew or whatever it was that killed one and part of another. My biggest worry with the Stevia now is the size it may get to and the containers they are presently in. If it is true that they can get 4 and 1/2 feet tall and very wide, then clearly the window box containers they are in aren't going to be sufficient. Their roots are probably well entwined by now so that is going to be hazardous. Anyone got any ideas? They do look good though, don't they?

As for most of the other herbs, I'm at something of a loss as to how to keep them from getting unruly. My Basil looks pretty droopy in the picture because it had been raining pretty hard and it is quite heavy. How do I keep it growing out rather than up? The Thyme is lovely and it smells so delicate!

The Tarragon has major issues. The one on the left has swooped down and is growing over one of the Oregano such that you can't even really see it in the photo. It is growing well, it is just swooped down and then back up again. I'm thinking I might need to move it to one of the tomato tubs and bring the other Oregano and Thyme in those up to the boxes. How do I get it bushier? The Lemon Balm and Oregano are doing well and I'm enjoying using them quite a bit.

My Rosemary, all 10 of them, are doing exceptionally well and smelling great. My favorite hands down. I planted the Mint with one of them because that is my combination of choice for almost all scents.

The real stars of the show are the veggies right now and I can hardly believe how much they are growing! Here are two sets of pictures, 48 hours apart. While they are slightly different zooms, you can see by the height compared with the various frames. Its almost eerie. But I like it. This is Bed One, the one with the best sunlight.

And these are of Bed Two, which gives me much concern as it is in partial shade. I really don't think I'm going to get tomato production from it unless the light changes soon. Grave miscalculation on my part.

Some of the real stand-outs are the Super Fantastic Tomato plant; yes, that is the name of it. It is a hybrid so probably not as tasty as my beloved Brandywine, but I thought I would give it a shot. It has not one, not two, but 4 little tomato-lets swelling the base where the flower bud was. Now, that isn't a guarantee that they will grow. It is still early for the plant to start with production, but I'm getting hopeful. The Beets are doing fantabulastic and some of them have significant bumps on the ground.

The Peas, oh...the Peas. I don't just have good growth here, I have blooms! All I need to say about that is said by the picture below.

The first batch of Carrots, from 23 March, have gone crazy with green growth also. Just look at the bushy beauty of that foliage. I like to just run my hands across it because it feels like feathers.

The Bush Bean experiment seems to be a draw. The ones that were soaked may have sprouted a day earlier than the non-soaked ones, but in terms of growth, they are pretty much the same. This photo taken a couple of days ago shows the problem of the nibbled leaves. In the lower left you can see that there is one leaf quite nibbled. It turns out, it was ants so only leaves touching the wood they used as a pathway got nibbled. They still look beautiful, don't they?

The Unknown Plant, (Brussell Sprout?), is growing very well. After this picture was taken, I heaped up a bit more garden mix around the base so that the stem was more covered.

The Nasturtiums are doing fantastically. They look like little round plates. I understand they are good to eat, but I've never eaten them so I'll just hold off on that until they grow quite a bit more. I had to cheat on the Marigolds some. My seeds were growing so slow and I had a fear of aphids so I went and bought some nice nursery ones. You can see the difference!

The Pole Beans haven't quite started pole-ing yet, but soon they will. Yes, that is bird poop on the leaf.

All the Lettuce starts from the third starting cycle finally did well. I planted them everywhere there was room. Here I planted some around a Roma tomato in a very big, 24 inch planter because they will be done hopefully before the Tomato shades it out.

And joy of joys! I finally saw a sprout in the Squash area. One each of the Yellow, Butternut and Fordhook Zucchini are showing up. Still nothing from the Saucer or Gourds. I went over to examine it and it turns out that the heaps of garden mix became a bit concrete-ish and I think that may have been too much for the seeds. We'll see.

But, as always, not everything is herbs and veggies. We are branching out into the realm of gorgeousness too! The Dogwood bloom is coming to an end. You can see the marks of age on the flowers but the slight dots of pink show up too and that is just breathtaking to me.

Our bulbs, which are still primarily big green spears, have some stand-outs too. The first Iris has bloomed and bloomed like there is no tomorrow. It looks like another 2 will be joining this one in the next couple of days.

The crazy Hosta bed is still going crazy. Just look at that! I really, really, am going to have to figure out how to divide those this fall and spread the wealth.

And just to liven things up...here I am going to do my favorite thing: Mess with the Garden. See, even the side yard Bed 3, planted so much later than the other two, are coming along.

No, I'm not forgetting the gratitutous dog shots for the day! Here is my darling Gigi, looking like she is hypnotizing you for a treat.

Boscoe is taking lessons from her...pretty good, huh?