Planting for Success: June Update
Here is a 2-month follow up to my article, Planting for Success.
Back then, in the crisp April air, the girls supervised from their filthy couch as I planted fresh seeds to coincide with the appropriate phase of the waxing moon. I was determined to take no chances.
The seeds grew well over five weeks, at which point I transplanted them into the garden beds:
Prior to putting in the seedlings, I had also poked some too-far-gone kitchen potatoes into the ground and by late May they were up and ready to mound with straw:
Between two garden beds, my husband had installed a cattle panel, held in place with t-stakes and zip ties, to create an arched trellis - hopefully the beans and peas will take the hint.
Some plants are growing better than others. Failures so-far include:
spinach (1-inch tall max)
kale (shameful)
chard (not sure where it went)
beets (same deal)
flowering broccoli (2-inch tall max)
and cabbage (still stubbornly holding at two leaves)
BUT! Peas and beans are busting out, as well as the summer squash, corn and potatoes. Tomatoes are good enough and last year’s kale and strawberries are doing fine. In addition to the transplanted seedlings, I direct-sowed cucumbers, nasturtiums, more corn, beans and melons, and they are all up and looking good.
Additions from the farmers market - eggplant, edible flowers and some herbs - are holding their own as well. And some cloves of garlic that I planted in October are three feet tall and just put out scapes:
These characters have, in two months, gone from this to this:
I am happy with things overall; everything a bit rough around the edges.
Jazzy, however, remains unimpressed.
