The Garden Bug always bites me in the spring when I have had enough of the snow. Fortunately, I know myself well enough to know that the effects of the bite wear off in June/July. When I feel the urge, I have to act on it. I have to get as much as I can done in the spring while it is still cool enough to work during the day. It works well because I work work work while my kids play play play. At the end of the day we are exhausted and bedtime runs smoothly.
I do not necessarily enjoy gardening . However, I LOVE the harvest. Having fresh produce at my fingertips makes all of the work worth it.
This year I skimmed through the Square Foot Gardening book hoping to make the most of my space. I'm so glad that I did. I have planted 72 onions, 72 green beans, 2 cucumbers, 1 cantaloupe, 1 yellow squash, 1 zucchini, 4 peppers, 72 potatoes, ? peas, ? lettuce, ? carrots, 10 tomatoes, 2 tomotillos, and 8 raspberry bushes. Not to mention my strawberries that came back from last year. I still have 6 square feet that I'm trying to figure out what to do with.
One of the things I am most excited about are my potatoes. This is my first attempt to grow them. Hopefully, I see some success. I read that you can mound them for a larger yield. Who wouldn't want the biggest bang for your buck? So I dug all of the dirt down in the area where I planted them. The dirt is in the wheelbarrow. Unfortunately, it got a flat tire and is not going anywhere until all of that dirt is mounded around my beautiful potato plants.
Below are my spring crops: lettuce, sugar snap peas, and carrots (that desperately need to be thinned). They were planted around St. Patrick's Day. Just look at those beautiful plants! They work as my motivation when it comes time to plant all of the summer crops around Mother's Day.
Strawberries
Leaf Lettuce
Potatoes
I saved the best for last. These are among the 79 promises of sweet, juicy peaches I can expect this summer. Yes, I'm a dork and I counted each and every one.
Unfortunately, I will have to pick most of them before they mature because they are growing on this tree. It was my Mother's Day present last year (my request). This tree is only about 4 feet tall. I am so excited to see how much fruit it will support!
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3 comments:
If you pick off at least half of the fruit that is starting now you will get much bigger sweeter fruit from the ones you leave. That's how the Japanese get such big beautiful fruit, they get rid of all but one fruit once they start to grow for each branch, you don't have to go that far but since your tree is tiny and won't support the fruit anyway you might as weel get more bang for your buck.
How cool! I'm sooooo jealous! All I have is dirt outside. I can't wait to grass, let alone a garden! :) We need to get together.
Nice work Lara!! Your garden is beautiful! Hope all goes well. Looking forward to canning season. :)
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