Deirdre's Garden Diary: 2007 Vegetable Garden

:: 2007 Vegetable Garden ::

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

:: 04.17.07 ::

Updates...

The garden is really doing good ...for the first time I feel like I may have a real grasp on this and I am already looking forward to next year! I didn't plant nearly enough butter bib lettuce. It was so good it disappeared fast. Of course it all tastes amazing and I am now eating things from the garden weekly. It would be more, but I am sharing the bounty with family and friends.
Soon I will have to fill in the empty spots with more summer veggies such as peppers, more tomatoes, eggplants, and more! I'll update later as they get planted.

Top photo: Butter bib lettuce, bulbing onions, and spinach with bluebonnets that I let stay in the raised bed. Above, front to back: red leaf romaine, green scallion onions, broccoli, tomatoes and ruby red chard, hidden just to the left of the cabbage as it takes over the space. Below: yellow crookneck squash just starting to get big.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

:: 03.13.07 ::

I put out most of the vegetables in mid-February and added a few more this week along with some straw mulch. I decided to try straw this year instead of wood shavings. So far the straw is a bit more messy, but I think it will let in more air and I like the color and texture...kind of gives the garden a farm feel and also makes the beds seem more precious for some reason. It will break down faster so I can work it back into the soil without any problem at the end of the season. Anyway it's a test, something new to see how things compare.

I replanted broccoli this year to see if getting it in early would yield better results than the flowering stalks I had last year. So far they are doing good, but I haven't seen any florets yet. I also replanted cabbage, lettuce and spinach. I noticed a few nibbles on one of the cabbage leaves, but nothing major. I looked back at last years photo's of the early cabbage plants and noticed I had a few nibbles on them also but the cabbage did fine last year despite the early pests. There really haven't been any bug problems so far this year, but it's still early with the weather just now starting to warm up...I'm sure I will be seeing unwanted insects soon.

The new vegetables I am trying this year are onions and Swiss chard. The onions went into the beds in February, but I just put the starts for the ruby red chard out yesterday. I have also already started peppers and tomatoes! Maybe getting them started early will give me better results than in the past.

I have more things I want to add to the garden, but they will have to wait a few weeks until I have more time to plant them. I will post updates as the plants get bigger so check back!

:: Go to the main Garden Diary and Plant Index ::