We were out of town almost all week.  We were travel schooling and tagged along on one of my husband’s work trips, which is one of the perks of homeschool.  Grandpa and Grandma babysat the plants for us.  When we got home, everything looked pretty good!

Outside…

The peas are growing nicely.  I put some of the onion starts out after we got back.  They are the tiny grass-like blades in the front.  The radishes next to them look nice and green.  You can also see the drip irrigation system.  We are trying to get full bed coverage, so we are keeping the lines nice and tight.  The goal is to get most of the bed covered in growing things, so we think this should work.  That being said, we haven’t ever used drip irrigation before. Any tips?

I planted 13 tomatoes in the garden at the house this weekend.  Here is a shot of a few.  One might not make it, as the stem was partly severed earlier, but it was still alive, so I thought we would stick it in the ground and give it a try.  It was the only chocolate pear tomato that made it, so I really would like to have that one.  If not, I will choose another of the starts to put there.  Between the rows of tomatoes, there are narrow rows of carrots.  After all, as the book claims, Carrots Love Tomatoes!  This book is on my reading list, but I haven’t checked it out yet.  It has, however, been recommended to me by lots of fellow gardeners.  If you check it out, let me know what you think.

There are lots of great pins on Pinterest that relate to companion planting.  I love the idea and it really works with the concept of permaculture (permanent agriculture/culture), which also appeals to me a great deal.  We can talk about that in a longer post sometime.

Under the Grow Lights…

Most everything has left the grow light area.  There is one tray remaining under the lights.  The rest of the plants have made it to the hardening off stage.  The cucumbers (and maybe a melon or two) are looking strong and healthy.  I wanted to try the melons as starts rather than just putting the seeds in the ground.  We have a serious slug problem and they seem to love cucumbers, munching them down like candy.  I have put some Sluggo around the raised beds.  I have also put some homemade water-bottle plant collars around a few.  It has helped some, but there are still quite a few slugs.

Most of the plants we are hardening off are in the “plant wagon.”  The kids are old enough they don’t really use it anymore and it has been great for moving the tender plants into the heated garage at night so that they don’t get too cold.

This week…

This week I am going to finish hardening off the remaining plants and get most everything in the ground.  Then I am going to pray that the forecast is right and the freezing nights are truly done.

Harvest…

Another tablespoon or so of onion tops.

Total so far this year: 

           3 T. onion tops

           3/4 oz chives

Costs:

No new costs this week.

*I have an extensive collection of seeds from prior years, seeds I saved from my own garden, and seeds that I am able to obtain for free every year at events hosted in our community and our community seed library, so my seed costs are pretty low.

Total:  $49.94 for the year

Stay hydrated and protect your skin out there as the weather starts to really get warmer.  I hope that you have a beautiful, green growing week.  Go forth and grow!

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