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2015 Season, Page 4

Picked Some Strawberries This Week

One of the good things that happened this week was a harvesting of just a few strawberries.  I wasn’t sure if there were going to be many berries this season, but there was enough to have the first harvest.  Only a handful were picked and there are still plenty left on the plants.

The next harvest I am sure will occur sometime this week either tomorrow or sometime during the weekend.  Hopefully there will be many more than the first harvest.  The first is always a small amount, but the second or third time is when you reach the peak of strawberry picking season. (more…)

First Lettuce Harvest of the Season

Today was perfect for picking lettuce leaves especially after the rain we got this past week.  The cool weather also helped them and it showed when I started harvesting the plants and how big the leaves were.  They were similar in size to my spinach leaves that were picked last month.

I probably could have picked some leaves in mid to late May if I wanted to, but I wanted to make sure that the leaves got as big as they possibly could.  Most of the plants had large lettuce leaves which were the oldest and the first ones harvested. (more…)

Transplanted Last of Tomatoes, Two Eggplants, and Five Pepper Plants

I had ten more tomatoes that were still in pots and continuing to grow, but starting to look like they were becoming pot bound.  This is something to avoid when growing indoors and since they had grown as far as they could in the containers I thought it would be best to place them in the garden right away.

I have over twenty tomato plants that are either steakhouse, Roma, or cherry tomatoes.  I should have more of the super sauce Roma plants than any of the others because I planted all 25 seeds that came in the packet and only a few of steakhouse and cherry.  Hopefully more sauce to be made this season. (more…)

Planted Corn, Carrots, and Bean Seeds in Garden

Now temperatures are in the high 70’s and the month of May is coming to an end I thought now would be a great time to start planting bean, corn, and carrot seeds into the garden.  I could have planted them earlier in the month, but I wanted to get most of my transplants into the ground first before growing these seeds.

The good news is that these plants do not need that much time to mature except for maybe corn.  Carrots do not need that much time to complete their roots and pole beans once they start getting flowers they are pretty much all set for the season. (more…)

Transplanted Squash, Cucumbers, and Melon Plants

I have been real busy this week trying to get as many plants into the ground as possible before the weekend.  I wanted to get my melons and cucumbers in the ground as soon as possible in order to get them growing faster right away.  They need some time to produce fruit and the quicker they are placed in the ground the sooner the harvest.

We also got some rain this week as well and that was definitely a good help for all my plants that were outside and in the ground especially my onions, lettuce, and spinach. (more…)

All Lettuce Has Been Transplanted

It is now the busiest time of the year in terms of gardening and it is time to start transplanting all the plants I have been growing during the Spring.  This also means start planting seeds that were not grown indoors as well.

For now I have started with my cooler plants in order to get them into the soil as quickly as possible since the weather is starting to heat up which is not good for lettuce.  My spinach plants are starting to bolt which means I will be running out of leaves to harvest. (more…)

Eight Tomatoes Transplanted and Bean Trellis Built

Now that it is the middle of May and the weather is averaging in the high 60’s to low 70’s it is time to start transplanting.  I have only done my tomatoes so far and have dug holes for all of the plants that I have growing outside.

I transplanted eight tomatoes today and will do the rest of them over the weekend.  I wanted to place the ones that were starting to get root bound into the soil first before they start to get ill and dry out too fast in the hot sun. (more…)

A Good Weeding Around Spinach Plants

As any gardener will tell you weeding is one of the most important and time consuming tasks that a gardener has to take.  Once you get the hang of weeding properly it becomes so much easier and it will not take that much time.

Unfortunately this is something that has to be done from time to time even if you have placed a layer of thick mulch or black plastic to prevent weeds from growing.  Weeds will literally grow anywhere. (more…)

Finished Tilling the Garden and More Spinach Harvesting

It has been a little while since I last made a post, but it has been quite busy nevertheless.  First of all I finally completed tilling the garden this evening and it took quite a few days to do this.  It took much longer than usual and that was mostly because I was picking up many large rocks in the garden while I was tilling.  This took some time to do.

I was hoping to be completed by last week and start planting many of my plants into the ground.  That way this week all I would have to do is begin planting seeds that are sown into the ground directly.  This includes corn, beans, and carrots. (more…)

First Spinach Harvest For 2015

Today was the first spinach harvest of this year and I was able to collect a few spinach leaves that were ready for consumption.  Spinach leaves last quite a while as long as you leave them in the fridge or cool area.

I had a couple of plants that did not transplant well and ended up bolting rather early.  Sometimes this does happen, but with approximately twenty plants this is not so bad.  I still have plenty left that are producing large leaves and others that are continuing to produce. (more…)