A little bit better is still a little bit better. 
Although we are having some issues with soil quality in our Sq. Ft. gardens, we are doing better production-wise than last year. I’m still getting the hang of it. Building my own soil is completely new to me.
I was checking out the garden today and discovered that the swiss chard I planted in the garden last fall is up and looks NICE! This was unexpected because I thought that we had tilled it up! I love swiss chard stir fried and eaten with buckwheat noodles or brown rice. Mmmm.
I had some luck with the tomatoes that I planted, but I only had two of my Amish Paste tomatoes come up. I was disappointed about that, because I love paste tomatoes for canning. I also have basil and cilantro coming up. We have a few marigolds also. My peppers are slooooow-growing. So because I didn’t get all of the tomato plants that I wanted to, I caved and bought some at Lowe’s. Pepper plants too. I hate doing that because they are severely over-priced. Next year I’m going to plant the tomatoes and peppers in the ground mid-April. It seemed to work okay.
I thinned out the lettuce today. It’s growing great. I planted a couple of varieties that have purple veined in the leaves. It’s so pretty! Imagine eating a pretty salad. I also harvested the rest of the sugar snap peas. Next year the plan is to plant MANY more and by a higher stake. That way I’ll get a bigger harvest. I really only had enough for two meals. So much for freezing them this year… The radishes are done. They were a little weird this year, but still tasted good. The shape was different than it was supposed to be, but oh well.
Tomorrow I’ll be planting beans, melons and cukes from seed. Also the plants I bought at Lowe’s will be going in. In the garden that isn’t sq. ft. gardening, I am having a heck of a time with the weeds. My plan is to remove the baby tomato plants and till up the ground and rake. Then I’m going to put the plants back in. Hopefully this works…
Hey, Risa! I couldn’t believe the cost to make Mel’s Mix for 2 4×4 boxes, but I’ve only seen ONE weed. I’d like to see more growth of my stuff, but this being my first year, I wasn’t aware of trimming the suckers from the tomato plants to focus all the growing energy into the main stalk. I need to get stakes set, but I think I might just do regular tomato cages instead of Mel’s trellises. I’m also thinking of letting the watermelon & cantaloupe go over the edge to the ground, too. As long as I can keep the weeds down from underneath them, I think they’ll do fine. If not, I’ll know for next year. Might just set his trellis plan up if I’m not seeing good things. I’ve had 3 strawberries and my herbs so far…nothing actually producing yet, but we’ve had some cold weather here…go figure, it’s late spring and we’re in the desert. It’ll be nice & hot for the garden soon enough…I’m sure.
Love the whole idea of the garden!! I am soooo glad I did the good soil mix right off the bat.
I love experimenting with ideas. Unfortunately I always end up messing up so much that it doesn’t turn out AT ALL!
I must have been really tired when I wrote that post because there are a LOT of typos…..