Away So Long!

Friends - I haven't posted in so long.  Even now, I hesitate because I can't add a photo.  My computer is broken and the little mini I'm working with can't do pictures.  Or I can't do pictures with it, who knows?!

So - the garden.  So much happened in May.  Got the tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant in, along with some great herbs.  Started the perennial garden and the berry patch too.  Beans, zucchini and cucumbers are one inch high, and the peas are beginning to flower.

What went wrong - well, I made a major beginner mistake.  My mesclun lettuce patch was up and growing nicely.  I failed to recognize that lettuce is a cool weather crop and it's been in the high 80s this week.  We had one good but small salad, then it "bolted" (went to seed) and now tastes terrible!  Lesson very much learned.  Somebody - probably a rabbit - ate four of the five red leaf head lettuces.

I also had a ridiculous struggle with Burpee.  The absolute worst customer service I've ever experienced.  They failed to ship about a third of my order.  Marked it out of stock on the packing slip.  Some of these I saw get marked out of stock on the website a month or two ago.  Silly me...I thought I got in under the wire. But Burpee just doesn't ship.  They didn't notify or give me the option to change or cancel.  Burpee is under the impression that since they arranged a charge-back (but not until I called) they are doing fine because they honored their guarantee to replace or refund.  I think not!

Next garden task will be to turn under the sour lettuce and the weed patch that came up instead of spinach.  What shall I plant?

More Cold Weather Planting

Lots and lots of seeds went in today.  All Burpee brand.  2 square feet each of Baby's Leaf Spinach, Bloomsdale Long Standing Spinach, Di Ciccio Broccoli, Swiss Chard, and 1 square foot of Mesclun Lettuce Mix which I just liberally sprinkled about as I plan to pick the leaves when they are tiny for really tender salads.  So there's no need to leave space for mature plants.  I did plant five red leaf lettuces - Lollo Rossa - well spaced out to see what it will be like to harvest a head.   I have quite a bit more lettuce seeds, which I'll be planting over time in order to attempt to extend the harvest.  Next weekend I'll plant some more Mesclun in the bed which is awaiting tomatoes.  See the bean tower in the picture?  The Lolla Rossa are around the back side.  Those white dividers define the space for the two kinds of broccoli, Swiss Chard, Mesclun, and to-be-planted Short 'N' Sweet Carrots.

It's been about a week since I planted the peas and snow peas, but not one is up yet.  Sigh.  The seed packages say 7-14 days to germinate.  The broccoli, basil, and nasturtiums I planted inside aren't up yet either.  Now that I've planted broccoli outdoors, I suppose the Italian variety is racing the indoor planted Green Goliath!  I check twice a day, which is good because I remain very conscious of who needs water.  11 of the 20 marigolds are up though, so I get a break from my frowning over the seed trays.  And I bought a pot of Chives, which are thriving in the garden. 

I am following, more or less, the gardening method described by Mel Bartholomew in his book Square Foot Gardening.  Two things I really like about the method are the economy of space which saves water, and the concept of planting rapid-growing crops like lettuce, spinach, and radishes in the spaces, or "squares," which are dedicated to larger crops.  For example, tomatoes go into a large space when they are still rather tiny, so why not make the ground around them productive until they grow large and need the space for themselves?  I'm doing the same with the almost 5 square feet I've dedicated for zucchini and the almost five square feet dedicated for bush cucumbers.  I hope to have lots of spring salads grown and eaten before those plants fill their spaces!