Carrots and radishes are ready!
Three months ago we planted some seedlings and seeds in the square foot garden. Yesterday I was finally able to pull some radishes and carrots. That seems like a long growing time to me, but I'm blaming the very cool, wet weather we've had so far this year. Seems spring showed up by the calendar, but now it's stuck. To be fair, we did plant the carrots on April 4, and the seedlings (not the seeds) are ready, but the radishes we planted at the end of May. But still, the packet of radish seeds said they'd be ready in 3 weeks, and it's now about 6 weeks.
The lettuce is still forming, I guess; never having grown lettuce before I'm not sure when to pick it. Just going by what it looks like in the store, and so far we're not there yet. The tomatoes are about 3 inches high, the cucumbers have 3-4 sets of leaves and are about 5 inches high, and the peppers are about 2 inches high. Oh, and one raspberry was ripe, but man was it tart! There have been green raspberries on the bush for what seems like FOREVER!
At this point the strawberries have stopped producing flowers. We've picked about 4 quarts total, and there are some green ones waiting to ripen. We did lose some to rot from all the rain a couple of weeks ago. One corner of the patch gets particularly wet, and the plants don't grow well over there. I'm planning to put more soil in on that side, then encourage the runners from the existing plants to go that way. Since these are "everbearing" strawberries they are supposed to produce all summer long. I'm curious to see if they start flowering again soon.
The flowers in the sun garden I put in last year all seem to be doing well for the most part. The daisies, asiatic lilies, purple bell plants (I don't know what they're called!), yarrow, yellow and pink evening primrose, dianthus, and some daisy-like yellow flowers that bloom in the spring have all done their thing. The Siberian iris did very well, but only one of the others bloomed (white with purple); the others all had growth, however. I put Arabelle's flower box with red geraniums on the south side of the garden, and they've got some nice growth but haven't yet flowered. The cone flowers and gaillardia should be blooming any day now, as should the plant with the white triangles of flowers (can't remember that one's name either). The phlox have buds.
I planted miniature red roses in the sun garden last week, a gift from Keith for our anniversary. The dogs have jumped around near them, but so far it seems no real damage has been done. I put the gargoyles statues to guard them and am hoping for the best :)
The latest experiment is potted plants hanging on the garage over the driveway. We got a bunch of annuals for 50% off from Herman's yesterday: marigolds, some crazy yellow-flowered plant, wave petunias, and geraniums. They are currently potted but not hung- that should happen tomorrow. I'm hoping they can withstand the heat off the driveway, although if the cool summer continues there will probably be no issue.
Short of going through every garden, that's the update for now. Happy 4th of July, everyone!
The lettuce is still forming, I guess; never having grown lettuce before I'm not sure when to pick it. Just going by what it looks like in the store, and so far we're not there yet. The tomatoes are about 3 inches high, the cucumbers have 3-4 sets of leaves and are about 5 inches high, and the peppers are about 2 inches high. Oh, and one raspberry was ripe, but man was it tart! There have been green raspberries on the bush for what seems like FOREVER!
At this point the strawberries have stopped producing flowers. We've picked about 4 quarts total, and there are some green ones waiting to ripen. We did lose some to rot from all the rain a couple of weeks ago. One corner of the patch gets particularly wet, and the plants don't grow well over there. I'm planning to put more soil in on that side, then encourage the runners from the existing plants to go that way. Since these are "everbearing" strawberries they are supposed to produce all summer long. I'm curious to see if they start flowering again soon.
The flowers in the sun garden I put in last year all seem to be doing well for the most part. The daisies, asiatic lilies, purple bell plants (I don't know what they're called!), yarrow, yellow and pink evening primrose, dianthus, and some daisy-like yellow flowers that bloom in the spring have all done their thing. The Siberian iris did very well, but only one of the others bloomed (white with purple); the others all had growth, however. I put Arabelle's flower box with red geraniums on the south side of the garden, and they've got some nice growth but haven't yet flowered. The cone flowers and gaillardia should be blooming any day now, as should the plant with the white triangles of flowers (can't remember that one's name either). The phlox have buds.
I planted miniature red roses in the sun garden last week, a gift from Keith for our anniversary. The dogs have jumped around near them, but so far it seems no real damage has been done. I put the gargoyles statues to guard them and am hoping for the best :)
The latest experiment is potted plants hanging on the garage over the driveway. We got a bunch of annuals for 50% off from Herman's yesterday: marigolds, some crazy yellow-flowered plant, wave petunias, and geraniums. They are currently potted but not hung- that should happen tomorrow. I'm hoping they can withstand the heat off the driveway, although if the cool summer continues there will probably be no issue.
Short of going through every garden, that's the update for now. Happy 4th of July, everyone!