Incredible Growth Spurt over the Past Two Weeks

Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home! I returned late last night, so didn't get to inspect the garden until this morning. Everything has grown like crazy!

The Good

• The black raspberries are coming in strong. It looks like a bumper crop ... certainly our best ever. Cutting down trees last year has made a real difference.
• The last of the sugar snaps need picking.
• The broccoli and the green cabbage is ready to harvest.
• We have cucumbers on the vine.
• Some of the beet roots are as big as my fist.
• The herb bed looks like a jungle! The basil needs cutting back. The mint is prolific. I feel a craving for mojitos coming on!
• The potato plants are healthy looking. I sneaked a peak and found a few nice sized new potatoes.
• The edamame and long beans are growing well. The long beans must be trained onto the string trellis amidst the peas.
• The jade bush beans are blooming prolifically.
• The yellow squash plants are huge and starting to bloom.
• It's time to remove the row cover that's over the cabbage and broccoli because I have zucchini planted under there, and the zucchini is starting to bloom. Must let those pollinators in!
• The young chickens are thriving, having gotten their fill of cicadas! They'll be kept separate from the rest of the flock until they're no longer eating the "start and grow" feed.  

The Bad

• The toscano kale (and bolted mustard) has been invaded by two kinds of cabbage worm. I pulled up the worst infested plants and harvested the rest. I'm glad my broccoli and cabbage bed has been under row cover.
• Two pepper plants have shriveled up and died, but all the others are looking healthy, with little peppers forming.
• While the beets are thriving in the good half of the bed, the other half still looks puny. I'll have to check on the results of my soil samples.
• One chicken died while I was away. It was expected. She had been feeling poorly. 

The Ugly

• The asparagus has flopped toward the sun and downhill onto the beet / pole bean bed.
• The pole beans are a tangled mess with no support for climbing.
• The tomatoes need staking.
• The cherry tomato plants have just about been overwhelmed by the bolting lettuce. I pulled up all the beautiful, albeit bitter, lettuce plants.

Rouse hadn't emptied my rain gauge since I left. It's registering 4-1/2 inches. By the time one takes into account evaporation, it's probably safe to guess we've had 5 inches of rain in the past two weeks. That's good. The problem is, most of it fell last Friday, causing flooding and uprooted trees. One tree fell across X Campbell Road and onto our driveway in the middle of the night, causing quite a mess. DOT was right on it, though, clearing the bulk off the road at 1:00am when son, Andrew, came home that night. Rouse didn't even know it had happened!

Sue's NOT in the garden for two weeks!

I'm leaving today for a two week adventure in Bavaria and Italia with my Dad and stepmother. This is what the garden looks like today.  Wonder what it will look like when I return?

1" Rain Last Night

If I didn't know better, I'd say we're living in a rain forest!  Everything was so green and lush this morning ... a cool, wet, spring morning.

First Sugar Snaps, Last Radishes

A handful at a time, I'm confident that we'll get enough sugar snaps for dinner one night this week!

I pulled up the Easter Egg radishes and planted the Rattlesnake pole beans in their place.  I harvested the Spargo spinach, planted two French sorrel plants in the herb bed (now I have three), and added a few more marigolds to the edge of the garden.

Thin the Beets, Test the Soil?

Today I thinned the beets. Thinning the plants is an investment in the future. It allows space for the beet roots to grow. The nice thing about thinning beets compared to thinning many other crops ... the greens don't go to waste! The small leaves make a delicious fresh salad.  The large leaves may be cooked up. Any of the leaves can be added to a green smoothy. Let the beet feast begin!

I am a little concerned about the three rows of beets that are occupying the bed that has held pole beans the last few years. Half of those beet plants look healthy and vigorous. The other half are half the size!

Check out the plants in the foreground of the adjacent picture. They're puny! They look a little pale, too, compared to the more healthy plants. Last summer, the beans in that section of the bed turned yellow and dried up. I thought heat and drought had adversely affected them, but maybe there's something in the soil. I plan to put my okra in that bed, between the rows of beets, but I'm thinking a soil test might be in order. Don't want to risk the success of my okra!