spring garden update

things are in full swing in the vegetable garden right now. garlic is growing so quickly…greens have been planted in containers…Brussels, broccoli, and cauliflower have been moved outside…carrots have been planted in the ground. it’s so good to see some visible progress finally! Lots of seedlings are being moved out to our greenhouse to finish hardening off (and I’m starting my cucumbers and squash in the greenhouse as well!) and here’s a little peak at the garden itself! there are 8 raised beds in total, and then about a 25x25 foot fenced in plot.

Here’s a little rundown and some notes on everything that has been planted so far!

TOMATOES

• Isis candy cherry tomatoes

• Sweet pea currant tomatoes

• Costuluto genovese - these have by far been my favorite to grow. They had excellent germination and have grown the fastest of all of my tomatoes

• Champagne bubbles tomatoes - these have proved to be very difficult. I only had 20% germination with these, and they didn’t germinate for 6 weeks. I’ve never had a seed like this!

• Blueberry tomatoes

PEPPERS - all of my peppers have been really slow to grow. Most germinated in the average time, but they are still so small in my opinion. Hoping for the best and getting them as much heat as possible right now!

• Container peppers

• Sweet banana peppers

• Jewel toned sweet peppers

• Jalapeños

• Mini peppers 

STALK VEGETABLES

• Cauliflower - my cauliflower is looking really good right now and I currently have high hopes for it haha. I’ll be moving it into the beds this week!

• Brussels sprouts - these are also looking really good. I just moved them into a raised bed after hardening them off. The stalks are getting thicker!

• Broccoli rabe - my broccolini did not make it. I do not have great success with broccoli from seed, so I grabbed a couple plants from a local farmer so that we will at least have some!

• Celery - this germinated really quickly and then got to about 3/4 inch tall and hasn’t grown since. Not the faintest idea what happened there, but I’ll do some research and try again for a fall harvest.

MELONS - we had both of these in the hoop house with a heating lamp during the big frost that we had a few weeks ago. however, we went out the next month and found that the heating lamp had blown out and all of our melons froze. So I’ve replanted. It didn’t seem like a huge loss at the time, since it was still early in the season, but now I can’t get my watermelon to germinate at all. So we’ll see what happens there. Baby cantaloupe are growing beautifully though!

• Moon and stars watermelon

• Baby cantaloupe

GREENS - greens are one of my favorites because they are so easy. Everything came up and is growing well! We should have the first harvest in a month or so.

• Lettuce

• Baby spinach

• Bloomsdale spinach

• Curly leaf kale

• Arugula
  

ONIONS - I don’t feel like I’ve had great success with onions, but we’re still going for it. Some are from bulbs because I just wanted something that will grow. Some are direct sown and some are transplanted in. These are so slow to grow that it often doesn’t feel like progress is happening, but I’m excited to see where they are at in August.

• Red onions

• Utah yellow sweet Spanish onions

• Scallions

• kelsae onions 

• Rainbow trio onions 

HERBS

• German chamomile - i’ve never grown this one before, but I’m so excited to this year! I have grand plans for drying it and making my own teas this year with it.

• Italian oregano - I planted this about a month ago and I think I’m going to need to replant it. It is not growing really at all at this point, so we’re going to try directly sowing it this time! I think it might have just been too cold for it in the windowsill.

• Heirloom culinary sage - i’ve never grown sage before, but I love it in cooking! I might even try my hand at drying it for this fall!

• rosemary - I ended up getting a year old rosemary plant from a local farmer rather than grow from seed. Rosemary is a very slow growing plant and I just decided to nurture a more mature one this year.

• genovese basil - we eat a ton of basil each year and also make a lot of pesto, so I always plant several basil plants!

• cilantro - I am a huge fan of cilantro and one of my favorite things is being able to go pick exactly how much I need while it is entirely fresh, rather than buying a whole bunch and having it wilt quickly int he fridge.

CARROTS - we’re trying seven new varieties of carrots this year! I’ll do a succession planting of them in 3-4 weeks as well.

• Little fingers carrot

• Dragon carrot 

• Parisian carrot 

• royal chantenay carrot 

• Yellow carrot 

• Atomic red carrot 

• Black nebula carrot 

ROOT VEGETABLES

• Lady slipper radishes 

• Turnips - we don’t really eat turnips, but alden came home from church with some that they had planted for a lesson and he is very proud of them. And they’re thriving, so we’re running with it.

• garlic - maybe my favorite thing to grow because it has been so hands-off and easy! I planted it in October last year, covered it with straw, and then uncovered in it late March and now it’s 2 feet tall.

SQUASH

• Heirloom table bush king acorn squash - i’ve never grown acorn squash before, but I’m very excited to try it this year. I love storing squash to eat throughout the winter - a beautiful little taste of summer even in the winter.

• Scallop yellow bush squash - a version of pattypan squash (which always makes me think of Jackson and Sookie). I’ve never grown this one before, and I’m excited to try it!

• A&C Pickling cucumber - these germinated so quickly! we don’t eat a ton of cucumbers, but i’m excited for some refrigerator dill pickles this summer with these!

• Early summer crookneck summer squash - I tried this in a container last year and it didn’t do great, so I’m planting it in the ground this year and hoping for better results!

• Local butternut squash - I saved seeds from the best butternut squash that I got from a farmer at our local farmer’s market last year. so excited to grow our own this year.
  

PEAS

• blue bantam peas - these peas are SO easy to grow. I will not eat cooked peas, but I like this version of snap peas and I’ll munch on them in the garden while we are out working.

STRAWBERRIES

• quinault - this variety is ever-bearing (a must for my strawberry loving boy). we already have our first one almost ripe! Alden checks it multiple times per day to see if it’s ready yet.

• sweet berry - this version has deep pink/red blossoms rather than the usual white. I cannot wait to use these in smoothies!

It’s so rewarding to actually see growth on most things. Who has started their garden already too?? And any tips for my tiny peppers?