First Harvest and Many Plantings

Quick update since my last post (4/24):

• Planted Potatoes and Beets (4/29)
• I am a very bad estimator of time til harvest
• First arugula salad (finally! - 5/13)
• Planted Broccoli, Nasturtiums, Borage, and Calendula (5/13)
• Potatoes and Beets are up
• Peas, Lettuce, and Arugula growing strong (albeit slowly)

So it turns out my estimate of arugula in "a few days" and lettuce in "a week" were just a wee bit off. More like 2 1/2 weeks for the arugula and 3 weeks and counting on the lettuce. We hit a cold patch (including a couple nights in the low 20s which killed the potato, beet, and nasturtiums that I highlighted as random compost-related sprouts in last post) which seemed to "freeze" the arugula and lettuce as they just held steady and didn't seem to grow at all for a couple weeks. The recent return to warmth has gotten everything growing and moving again, and we finally had our first baby arugula salad of the spring. The lettuce is not far behind it, so we should be getting regular salads starting soon (fingers crossed). The peas are growing well, as are the potatoes I planted with the boys back on 4/29. We did one row of Green Mountain potatoes (from last year's garden harvest) and one row of an Unnamed (but delicious) potato that was leftover from the many delicious CSA deliveries we received through the winter (they started to sprout so I figured I'd save a couple for planting). Ethan also planted a couple potatoes in his garden. Both boys are really into the garden this year, and I have to keep reminding Adam that he cannot just help himself to arugula any time he wants (come to think of it, that probably didn't help in the delay to first salad :-) ).

We also transplanted the broccoli into the garden on 5/13. Two starts from my Dad (thanks Dad!) and 6 from a local nursery, I planted each one with a big handful of worm castings (finally putting the worm farm to good use), so I'm cautiously optimistic my broccoli will be more successful this year (not very productive last year, just lots of little side shoots). I also planted them in one of the compost piles I started last fall, so if they don't turn out this year, I might have to give up on growing broccoli!

Oh, and a quick note on the non-veggie plantings. I'm planting nasturtiums and borage mostly because they reportedly attract beneficial insects.  So I'm planting them right in the middle. Both produce pretty flowers (I'm particularly fond of nasturtiums which I tried last year for the first time. This is my first experiment with borage), but they are also both edible so as an added bonus we can try them in our salads! The Calendula is also a first-time experiment and I'm growing strictly for the pretty flowers to beautify my garden (not that veggie plants aren't beautiful all on their own).

Now for some pictures...

Broccoli is in!

Potatoes are up

Lettuce (Mesclun Mix)

Arugula - if you haven't grown arugula you really should - it is delicious!

Beet seedlings emerging from the ground

Suger Snap Peas growing strong

Ethan's garden (potatoes on left, chinese cabbage in middle (self-seeded from
last year's crop), and mesclun mix lettuce on right

Ethan's potatoes (closer up)

The garden from the hill

My new favorite salad -- arugula, beets, and goat cheese (yum!)