It was a very rainy week this past week and we got some hail, which damaged some of the more tender plants and knocked down some of the flowers, but overall it looks beautiful and green out there and the weather is definitely warming up.

Outside…

The peas are doing well, and the herb bed is really starting to grow.  The radishes are doing pretty well and the tatsoi and baby bok choy that I transplanted survived.  Here is a shot of the snow peas coming up.  The green in the front of the bed is a small patch of radishes.

In the past, radishes haven’t grown here very well.  The greens do great, but the radish never bulbs up.  I have had trouble keeping the nitrogen levels up in the garden.  Being so close to the trees and bushes is not great for the plants.  My understanding is that the tree roots compete for the nutrients and water.  But it is really the only option right now so we are going to see if we can’t get some things to grow despite the trees being so close and without a ton of light.  This is an extremely shady area.

Fortunately, I get to manage our local church community garden and those beds are in the sun and have no competing plants.  My goal this year though, is to coax some veggies out of this forest garden.

 

I got some of the sunflowers planted and the calendula I planted is growing.  I pre-sprouted some cucumbers.  Many of them are under the grow lights inside, but the extras I stuck out in the garden in the hopes that it won’t freeze and they will make it.

The tomatoes are all hardened off, but are still under a protective cover outside if the weather dips into the 30’s.  Most of them are ok.  The stems are long, but I can trench plant them and they will be fine.

Here is a longer shot of most of the raised bed garden area.  I am pretty sure the weeds outside the garden are doing even better than the plants inside it.  😉  Isn’t that always the case?

I am keeping the mulch on the beds this year to try and keep more moisture in.  It is a mix of pine needles and leaves and seems to be helping on the dry days.  I have noticed more worms.  And the children collected a bunch of worms in the bad rain storm we had to add to the garden beds.  The love “saving” the worms when it rains.  Even though they are getting older.

 

Under the Grow Lights…

Most everything under the grow lights is doing well.  The corn struggles on.

This week…

Not sure what this week holds.  Maybe planting tomatoes and tomatillos.  Maybe some of the cucumbers that are currently under the grow light.

Harvest…

3/4 ounce of chives to top baked potatoes and to add to an egg scramble – it is amazing how light chives are.  I harvested a huge handful and it only amounted to 3/4 oz.

Total so far this year: 

           2 T. onion tops

3/4 oz chives

Costs:

$5.00 – I went in on a bag of potting soil with my mom to continue transplanting the tomatoes.  My go-to potting soil is Miracle- Gro Moisture Control because it seems to help me keep the plans watered the correct amount.  I am linking to it on Amazon so you can see what the bag looks like, but you can probably find it for a better price at your local big box store.

*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

 

I hope that your week is wonderful and that you get into the dirt and plant something fun.  Go forth and grow!

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