Transplanted everything except the tomatoes yesterday. They are still pretty small. Everything else seemed pretty ready to go. The beans were maybe even overdue. Today I sprayed them with Organocide, since the white flies seem to already be out and about.

Today I spread manure, mixed in soil sulpher, ammonium phosphate, and then turned the soil again, mixing everything in as best I could. I then otherwise raked and prepared the beds for planting, and put up my garden fence. I just need to water it all in a time or two. Plants themselves are coming along nicely, though due to company last night, I did not water the plants, and they got pretty wilty. A good watering this afternoon seemed to snap most of them right back, though a few continued to look a little rough. Not sure if I'll lose them or not.

Season Two Begins

Well, it's been ages since my last post. As the fall harvest is going on elsewhere in the country, here in the sunny southwest it is planting time for the winter veggie garden. I used my seeds from last year, as I had plenty left over, and I kept them in the refrigerator. So far they seem to be sprouting just fine. I'm not planting as much overall as I did last year, but I am planting more of some things and less of others. It is my second go after all, so hopefully I've learned a few things. For example, eight zucchini plants (or something like that) that I planted last year, is a LOT of Zucchini, and really two or three healthy plants with lots of room will probably suffice. Somewhat the same story for the cucumbers, which I hope to actually get some of this year. Last year they were destroyed by spider mites before they could yield any of their fruit. This year, more beans, as they can be easily frozen and stored for later. Same thing for the peas. Also more lettuce, planted in weekly intervals, to get a more continuous harvest. Etc.... I'll post pics later, but suffice to say the sprouts and cups look about the same. I am however, only digging two plots as opposed to one. Everything was started from seed in the cups on Labor Day.

Pass the Peas

I picked a nice bag of peas yesterday to share at community dinner. They are tasty. Peas, beets, lettuce, and spinach are all that is left. We had several frosts over about two weeks centered around Christmas that killed off everything else. I need to get my palm tree removed so that I can set up my permanent raised bed layout, and finish spreading gravel in the rest of the back yard.

We needed lettuce for tonight's salad, so I went out and picked some. I also picked the first Early Girl tomato that I remember spotting. It is still obviously very green, but I want to see how long it takes to ripen if I bring it inside. The little sweetie tomato that I did the same thing with is now turning nice and red, though it has taken it's time to get there.

Corn and such

I just thought I'd throw up a few pictures of the current state of my corn. Quite a bit of it has tasseled, and I actually have a decent number of ears coming. I wasn't sure if they were going to produce or not, seeing as how late I got it planted. According to the seed package, the maturity date would be Dec. 20. I'd say it's on track for that. So far we haven't had any temps below about 40, so if that holds out for a few more weeks I should be ok. I also harvested a good amount more beans and peas a few days back. I think I'm going to make some of that famous Harder green bean soup!

Green Beans

The results of today's stroll through the garden. A good fistful of beans (I'm trying to get enough to make green bean soup), my first pea pod of eating size, and a green sweetie tomato that I knocked off by accident. I brought it in to see if it will ripen up anyway. I can say the pea pod tasted just as it should... yummy!