Producing

I have progress to report!  First, 3 blog posts this month marks a record for me.  More importantly, the mesclun greens and arugula were ready to pick last week (and yes, I had to read up on how exactly to pick them).  We have had a few salads and even had enough to take salad to a friend's bar-b-q last weekend!  I guess that if nothing else grows all summer I can be happy that for a few nights we sat down to a salad that we grew ourselves, and we've learned a few lessons for next year.  I will say, these greens keep for much longer in our refrigerator than the ones we get at the store.
Some of the later plants are not yet done growing, though, so we may have more to report, yet!

Happy Memorial Day everyone!

Pests

So on Monday, the garden looked awesome.
Here is a text I got from the hubs when he watered it Tuesday morning:
"Babe, ur garden is looking good this morning!  Mesclun is huge, broccoli looking better."
When I got home from work Tuesday night, a pest had uprooted almost all of my cucumbers and squash/zucchini.  I was fired up!
Did some reading. I think we may have rabbits (but they didn't get the carrots?)

When I got home today, I checked the back, and the hubs had installed chicken wire around the whole thing to keep out the critters.  What a sweetie.  I hope it works.  Now, I'm back to the drawing board with the different squashes.  At least the darn things didn't get my tomatoes.

Warm Weather Planting

With the last threats of frost gone the last week in April, I planted the warm weather seedlings into the ground.  For TN, the warm planting season includes:
green beans
squash
zucchini
corn
bell pepper
tomatoes
pumpkin
cantaloupe
cucumber

Green Beans Row

Spring plantings: corn, breen beans, squash

Progress on the cold weather planting:  mesclun, carrots, arugula

The cool weather plantings are making some progress, but to be honest, it kind-of looks like a mess.  The carrots instructions were to plant just 2 inches apart, but the greens are getting tangled.  The lettuce is muddy, which is to be expected, but it still makes me a little sick.  Oh well, I think we may get enough for a couple of salads out of it at least.  I think there are another 30 days or so until it's ready to go.

The UT ag extension website has lots of information on what to plant and when specifically for our area, as well as how far apart the rows should be and anticipated yield.  They were a good resource to get started.  When looking this up, many colleges have an extension to their state's recommendations.