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defrost49

Brag Alert: veggie garden

defrost49
13 years ago

Today I was absolutely amazed to find the first sugar snap peas, a bush variety Sugar Ann. We had a spinach salad May 16 but today I have enough for a meal (for two of us) and more coming. I've never had snap peas this early. Anything before July 4 is amazing.

What I did differently this year that must have made a difference: put down black plastic to warm the soil for a couple of weeks. Sowed seed for Spinach Tyee and Sugar Ann Sugar Snap peas on April 3. Package said 56 days to harvest and it is right on the nose. After sowing seed, covered bed with Agribon-19 fabric (like Remay) that is recommended by Eliot Coleman.

On the down side, looks like poor germination for beets, carrots and lettuce. Decent for parsnips. Didn't want to gamble too much and was away for a week so summer and winter squashes are just being sown today. I do have a couple of volunteer lettuce plants that are going into tomorrow's lunch salad.

My garden is just north of Concord NH. It's been a warm spring but dry.

How's everyone else's vegetable gardens doing?

Comments (4)

  • carol6ma_7ari
    13 years ago

    My RI veg garden is still young, but gettin' there. Carrot germination bad, I agree. Kale is up, and spinach, lettuce, globe onions, zukes, cukes, acorn squashes, 24 tomatoes, and nasturtiums on the fence. Lots of rain here, this Spring. Peas still pods but I can see the outlines of future spheres inside.

    Carol

  • blaketaylore
    13 years ago

    Hi Defrost,

    Well no harvesting of peas yet for me, but I do have blossoms on them so they are coming! I have had great luck with Bloomingdale spinach and loose lettuce. I have been eating both now for a few weeks. I can't keep up with the lettuce, the more I cut the more it grows, seeminly overnight. I constantly have a big bowl of washed, clean lettuce in the frig. I am so happy, this is the first year that I have been so successful with my lettuce. My Space spinach, from Pine Hill seeds, I did not not like. It tasted fine but it is already bolting and gave very little harvestwise compared to the Bloomingdale. I have been munching on Egyptain onions and chives since March. Always a great harvest from those two perennial vegetables that just pop up every year without any help from me!

    My swiss chard is about four inches high and my Kale is even smaller. So no harvest there yet. My garlic is two feet tall and the shallots are looking good but it will be two months or more before I harvest those goodies.

    I lost some of my winter squash to frost so I have to reseed this week, along with the summer squash. My black beans and kidney beans popped up about tthree inches. My broccoli is about a foot tall. My tomatoes are tiny, maybe six inches high. My dill grew about a foot tall, but my parsely never sprouted. I think that is about it so far. I did plant some potatoes but no signs of growth from them yet.

    I tried seeding mustard greens but they haven't popped up yet. The soil is so dry. It's hard keeping everything watered. I think I am going to put out milk jugs filled with water with a slow leak to help keep the garden evenly watered.


  • prairiemoon2 z6b MA
    13 years ago

    Well defrost, your post had me pushing to get the veggie plot all set for the s*ummer. Didn't have a spring veggie g*arden this year and didn't start my own seeds, but thanks to you, finally have all four small beds turned over, planted, mulched and soaker hoses set up. Missed out in finding a Sungold tomato plant for the second year in a row, but found Sunsugar which should work out as well. Have Brussel Sprouts, Peppers, Egg*plant, S*ummer Squash and Basil looking ready for the hot weather. Still have two pots of string beans that need to be planted.

    We had one good rain storm and very little else since then. I've been watering with the hose. This would have been the year to have an early g*arden and I'm sorry I missed it.

    I never pulled my Collard p*lants from last year and they started growing again and I can harvest leaves now. With this heat I expect them to bolt soon though. We missed the sugar snap peas this year! Hopefully, I will catch the fall g*arden.

  • ellen_s
    13 years ago

    It's been a great early season for veggies for sure!! I have never popped a fresh strawberry in my mouth in May before! Nice to hear what everybody else is growing. My arugula and mesclun greens have just finished. Spinach, romaine and lettuce still in full swing. Sugar snap peas have flowers so very soon now! Leeks, onions, cabbage, kale, parsleyroot, parsnip and squash are all doing well. Tomatoes, basil and broccoli planted just in time for the rain. Rain in the forecast frequently in the next 5 days, life is good in the veggie patch! Now if I could just find the time to get that last bed prepared to put in potatoes...