First Harvest

This afternoon I went into the Kitchen Garden with scissors in hand and proceeded to cut my very first harvest of the year. I honestly could have done this a week ago, but the time got away from me. And my how the greens have enjoyed this past week's mild and wet weather! Just a week ago I could still easily make out each individual lettuce plant. But one week later they have all grown together to form a sea of fresh green.

This is a planting of Heirloom Cutting Lettuce from Renee's Garden. It is a mix of 5 varieties; "Speckled Troutback", "Blush Butter Cos", "Red Ruffled Oak", Devil's Tongue", and "Sucrine". I can make out 4 different varieties in the mix but I don't know my lettuces well enough to clearly see all five.

This one is definitely the "Speckled Troutback".

I am guessing on this one. Perhaps the "Blush Butter Cos" ?

And this one must be the "Red Ruffled Oak".

This is a pretty solid green one that is growing in a fairly tight bunch for a leaf lettuce.

As this is my very first attempt at growing leaf lettuce, I am very pleased. Any seed from Renee's Garden is always great, especially her mixes. You always get such an even blend of all the promised varieties. We will be eating well from this small raised bed for weeks.

Next door to the lettuce is another raised bed. This one was planted with "Charger" Spinach and "Red Planet" Radish. They too have enjoyed the wet, warm weather and have really grown in the past 10 days.

This is also the first time that I have ever grown Spinach. It is doing really well although a few of the leaves are getting munched on. I have looked all over but can't find the guilty party. Thankfully the damage is minimal.

The radish look great but need to be harvested soon! They are as big as I would want them and will be come hot if they are allowed to get too much bigger.

After I harvested enough for dinner the next two nights, I cleaned and weighted the bounty;

• Lettuce Mix - 4.8 oz
• "Charger" Spinach - 2.5 oz.
• "Red Planet" Radish - 7.9 oz.

A Rainbow Of Radish

When I removed the remay cover from my raised bed of radish yesterday, I discovered that they were ready to harvest. I planted them on April 21st, so they have been in the ground a month.

The first group I pulled, "Red Planet".

Three nice "Plum Purple". I have noticed that this variety has very fine side roots on the radish which most other varieties do not. Maybe it has a little diakon radish in its genetic makeup. It also has much bigger leaves than the other varieties.

Some hot pink "Pink Punch". All in all, my initial rainbow of radish harvest was 4.4 oz. 

A Busy Sunday

I began my day in the west-end flowerbed. I gave the whole bed a thorough weeding and watering. Then I went to work transplanting a few sunflowers. I had 4 volunteers come up this year. Two are just fine where they sprouted but two others appeared in the "Tzan" garlic bed. I moved those two and watered them in well. Sunflowers have very shallow roots and hate to be disturbed. Currently, the two plants that I moved look very unhappy but I am hoping that they will perk up in a few days.

After I got all of the volunteer sunflowers settled, I planted the four starts that I grew of "Bright Bandolier". They look good but I am a bit worried about the birds getting to them. There isn't an easy way for me to protect them, so fingers crossed!

Next I moved my attention to the kitchen garden. It was finally time to pull my two kale plants. They have pretty much finished blooming and are busy setting seed.

The seed pods are long and thin. They remind me of miniature green bean pods. I opened a pod and each one has a single row of seed. I can only imagine how much seed would be produced on a plant the size of mine.

Next I got out my flat of Winter Squash starts. As you can see, not all of the seed germinated. But I always plant more then I need so that I will have enough plants to meet my needs, plus a few to give away.

Here's my 4 "Butternut" plants.

And I have four good looking "Delicata" too.

The five "Guatemalan Blue Banana" plants are really big. I think this might foreshadow some really large plants in the garden. I am having flashback to the summer of 2011 and my "Marinia di Chiogia" squash!

I built two new raised beds and first planted two "Guatemalan Blue Banana" in one.

The seedlings are just getting ready to produce their first true leaf. It is the perfect time to transplant them out into the garden.

Then I planted the other raised bed with two "Butternut" plants. After I was done I covered both raised beds with a protective tunnel of remay fabric. 

After I finished planting the two Winter Squash varieties, I took the remay tunnel off of the radish. As you can see, the radish are now ready to harvest. As soon as I have finished harvesting all of the radish from this raised bed, I will add some fresh Nature's Best compost to the bed. Then it will become the home for two "Delicata" squash plants.

Next I took the protective remay tunnel off of the onion row. It has served its purpose. As you can see, the onions are now nice, strong plants. They are big enough that the birds will leave them alone.

Here's a close-up of the "Candy" onions.

And here is the section that is planted with "Frontier" onions.

So here is the latest "look" of the kitchen garden. The white tunnels keep moving around and the garden is slowly filling up for the Summer.

After dinner I decided I had enough time that I could pot up some more dahlia tubers. When I headed over to the planted pots I discovered that my first three dahlias are up! All three are varieties I purchased this year from Blossom Gulch Dahlias; "Asia", "Chubasco", and "Carmella". Below, "Carmella ". And so begins my dahlia year.

The Radish

The radish that I planted on April 21st have really grown. They are just about big enough that I think it is safe for me to remove the remay tunnel. Pictured above, a perfect "Red Planet".

The other two varieties appear to be just a few days behind in growth. Above, the hot pink colored "Pink Punch" and below "Plum Purple".

Kitchen Garden Update

It is time for an update regarding the kitchen garden.

Underneath their protective blanket of remay, the radish are growing by leaps and bounds.

You can now clearly see the beginnings of the colored roots.

The garlic continues to thrive. I am just amazed by the size of the "Russian Red" plants. They are now as big as leaks.

Look at the size of those stalks. There should be some pretty impressive bulbs underneath!

The "Chesnook Red" garlic is also doing really well. It is the more "normal" size that I am used to observing with garlic plants.

Most of the "Red Bull" onions have settled in nicely. I am concerned that one of the five isn't going to make it. It isn't growing any new leaves. As you can see it is flopped over and looks nothing like the other four plants.

I am amazed at the growth of the shallot plants. They were so small and delicate when I planted them. In just a few weeks they have tripled in size and are sturdy, strong plants.

The other onions are also doing great. The "Frontier" storage onions, picture above, have doubled in size.

The stalks are about as thick as a pencil now. I think that I am going to keep the remay tunnel over them for at least a few more weeks.

The "Candy" onions also  look good. 

The first tray of seeds that I planted continue to sprout. I now have 9 young "Raspberry Sorbet " zinnias.

The marigolds are also coming up. Above, two little "Red Metamorph" and below a "Frances' Choice" seedling. So far about 1/3 of the marigolds have germinated.

Radish Germination

We had another sunny day today. It hit a high of 78 degrees - out warmest day yet so far this year. Tonight, when I lifted the remay fabric off of the support hoops, I discovered that the radish seed that I planted on Sunday is germinating. I am happy but not too surprised. Radish seed is very quick to germinate and the weather has been perfect.

Still, it is exciting to see all of the tiny seedlings, as they push up the soil and make their appearance. After I watered all five of the rows deeply, I put back the remay fabric. The young plants are very susceptible right now to becoming lunch for any number of birds. I will wait a few weeks before removing the remay tunnel for good. I hope that you were able to get outside and enjoy today's beautiful weather.