2011 Garden

Well I thought I’d update you all on our garden!

Gardening has been a lot of trial and error. Last year several of the things we planted just wouldn’t grow…like beets. We also had spotty luck with carrots. Some things that did grow got attacked by bugs, like cabbage and brussel sprouts.

Some of it was our own fault for getting too excited and planting early. Our pepper and tomatoes just never really made a comeback from the late frost we got.

Other things did great! Our peas, beans, potatoes and cucumbers all gave us lots of bounty.

This year we added a couple extra boxes, changed a few things around and *patiently* waited to plant most things until mid-late May. We did plant peas, radishes and beets early (thought we would try again with the beets). Our weather was very wet and colder than normal through, well really, just about the beginning of June. Our peas are pathetic, just barely producing. The beets, again, totally no go. The first round of radishes only about half of them actually produced a radish of any size. I planted lettuce seeds and they pretty much have done nothing.

At this point I am glad there is a grocery store nearby and that someone else somewhere in this world has better luck growing things than I do!

In the last month we have planted many starts and seeds of a variety of things. We also tried to grow our own starts of some pepper varieties and some basil. This also was not one would call a success.

At any rate, we have at least *some* promising growth happening out there. The corn, potatoes, tomatoes and the zucchini all look good, healthy, bushy and green. Other things seem to be struggling a bit, but we are fertilizing, trying to deter the bugs and slugs and generally giving positive encouragement to everything.

We also have some new additions to our yard this year. Our cherry tree never fruited last year….but this year we have these:



We also bought 3 blueberry plants, and they are looking pretty good:



No picture, but our lemon is about double or triple its original size.

And to make things look prettier, Chris planted these for me:



Here is hoping that with continued encouragement, heat, fertilizer, and water that our garden perks up and we have a good season.

I can hardly wait to eat my first tomato sandwich!!