Let us eat lettuce.

Ok, I've been slacking a little on this blog thing, but my garden has thankfully not been slacking on this growing thing. Here is the first harvest of my Boston Lettuce from last Saturday. Pete and I enjoyed a yummy salad Saturday evening and tasty BLTs on Sunday afternoon. I stopped by to water the plants tonight before my weekend trip to Ohio. I have two more heads of lettuce looking ready to be picked and several more to follow including some red lettuce and romaine types. My spinach has sadly not done nearly as well. I may reseed and try again in the fall.

I keep forgetting my camera each time I go to the garden, so I cannot show the progress my plants are making. This is not necessarily a bad thing because photos would also show the progress the weeds are making too. I need to invest some serious sweat equity when I get return next week. I am wondering if the lilacs on the east side of my plot are shading my plants a bit too much. I've compared some of my plants progress to that of my neighbors and, well I'm a little envious of the size of some of theirs already. I'm going to start referring to my plot as the, "little garden that could". :-)

More photos next time, I promise

Oh Pea, oh my!

In my apartment hunting absence, my peas and lettuce have taken off! Last sunday I was pleased to find hardy bunches of pea plants in my plot. The lettuce is lagging behind the peas a bit, and the Boston lettuce plants I bought seem to be wilting and not doing so well. BUT the peas, oh glorious peas!

I did find a new apartment and signed the lease last week. The end of this month is going to be very busy with me packing up my belongings and moving to my new home, which thankfully is not too far from my garden. (and it has a nice backyard.....). It also brings Memorial day weekend; the time for planting outdoors without fear of frost anymore. I have a windowsill full of beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, squash, zinnia and nasturtium seedings that are eager to stretch their roots and limbs, and take off.

I did plant a few things last weekend that I do not have to worry about frost affecting. A nice coworker gave me a large bunch of dahlia bulbs. I bought some day lily bulbs and put them into the ground. At the far end the plot I planted 2 small bunches of Sequoia strawberries. They already has small green strawberries on them from sitting in the windowsill at home for a few weeks.

I'm anxious for warmer weather and seeing how my plants (babies) fair.

Sign of life

I apologize for the fuzziness of the photos, the sun made it tough for me to see if I was in focus. What you are looking at are my first sprouts in the plot; snap peas and butter crunch lettuce. I stopped by briefly on Saturday to water and discovered these little green buds pushing through the soil. I also found out that the water has been turned on in the garden, so I no longer have to tote it from home.

I had a busy weekend between derby practice and driving to NH and back. I hope to do some more work this weekend, weather permitting. I also have to go apartment hunting. At least this time I don't have to worry if there is no yard, I have my garden to escape to when I need a little green scenery.

I spent about 2 1/2 hours in my garden plot yesterday. I finally remembered to bring my camera with me and took some before and after photos. I turned most of the soil over yesterday creating two rather large sized beds and one smaller one.

Earlier last week, I stopped by on my way home from work to sow some snap peas, spinach, butter crunch and romaine type lettuces. So far no sprouts. The weather has been nothing but glorious since Monday. Sunny skies and highs in the 60's. This also means no rain. I was told by an older gardener last weekend, that the city does not turn on the water to the garden till May 2nd. In the meantime, I've been filling a small tupperware container and taking to water the seed plots.

My seedlings at home are doing great and I'm considering moving them out of the flat into separate peet pots so I can start planting more. I still want to start some carrots, onions, squash, more beans, and maybe some more Zinnias.

I do worry a bit that I am trying to do too much for my first "official" garden. BUT I've never had so much space before and I hate to let it go to waste. I figure I might as well try and see what happens, I can always make changes for next year. Besides my container gardens in the past have faired well, so why should a little ground in a nice sunny spot be any worse? :-)