Monday, April 25, 2011

Spring Garden Progress

My spring garden is doing amazingly well this year and I couldn't be happier.
 

I've been picking baby lettuce for salads nearly every day for at least a week.  And well, you know about all the arugula I've harvested :)  And the beets are ready to pick as well.  As a matter of fact, I picked the first of the gold beets for a fabulous dinner on Friday night and we had roasted baby beets as part of our Easter dinner on Sunday.

I took a bunch of pictures of the garden last week that I'd love to share with you.  When I'm in my garden, I feel so humble and grateful for what I'm able to have a hand in growing and in feeding my family and friends.

Here are my gold and red beets and carrots
 





Golden Chard

Little Gem Romaine and Lolla Rossa Red Lettuce




Texas 1015 Onions - A couple of these are the size of large tennis balls!



And my tomatoes are growing beautifully and beginning to flower!




The three varieties of peppers, Italian white eggplant, golden scallopini bush squash, golden bush beans and Blue Lake bush beans go in the ground this coming week. I may be a bit late in planting these, but I have to keep reminding myself...it's only April!

The rewards I get out of tending my vegetable garden go far beyond good fresh food.  Being out there, working hard in the sun, watching things grow and flower, feeds my soul as much as (or more than) my appetite.  Yes, I am truly blessed. 


12 comments:

  1. It all looks wonderful. My plants are still tiny and sitting in the house waiting for warm weather (about another three weeks) to plant them outside. What a great garden!

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  2. Beautiful garden beds Diane! You're going to need to open a farmer's market stand!

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  3. Hi Elaine...thank you! I know the feeling of wanting to bad to get out there and dig in the dirt, but you have to wait till the weather warms up! And you know it will. Thank you for stopping by :)

    Thanks, Cat! So far, so good on the garden this year. But there is a big fat worm eating my golden chard and I can't find him! Not sure I'll have enough for a farm stand, but plenty for the family and friends :)

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  4. Oh my goodness! I am so jealous of your long growing season! Tomatoes flowering already! I can't even plant mine until after Memorial Day. Your raised beds are very impressive. Were they difficult to construct?

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  5. That is just stunning! Just beautiful. I 'm eager to see my golden swiss chard this summer...we are a bit behind here in the midwest. Our spring salads will be ready here soon.....:-) roberta

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  6. Hi Beth...I know. My brother lives in Michigan and he hates me at this time of year :) He, like you, can't plant his tomatoes until Memorial Day. But by mid summer, it's so hot here that everything is struggling to survive. Thank you for your kind words about the garden beds. They were not hard to construct. Basically they are made of cinder blocks stacked 2 high and covered with a rock face. Each bed has an independent sprinkler head too. That helps!

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  7. Thank you Roberta! I just love those early spring salads with baby greens! Something is eating my golden chard....GRRRR! Probably a big fat worm that I can't find! But I keep looking. Thank you for stopping by :)

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  8. I love your raised beds. The vegetable garden is both beautiful and productive. All your vegetable look so healthy too. So the puppies say out?

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  9. Hi Donna...Thanks! I'm real happy with my garden this year...so far! Except something is eating my golden Swiss chard and I simply can't find the little bugger...probably a big fat worm! Thank you for stopping by. Not sure what you mean by "puppies say out?"

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  10. Sorry Donna...got it now..."stay out". Yes, the puppies do stay out of my garden. I have a 7' no-climb fence around my beds with a cedar gate. There's no way they can get in unless I let them in, which doesn't happen. And they know to stay out. If they begin to venture in if I happen to leave the gate open, I squirt them with the hose and they immediately turn around. Somehow they just instinctively know to stay out. Makes life easier for everybody!

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  11. I am envious of you lettuce beds!

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