It's spring and I'm back!

Pardon my absence. I have not been idle in the garden. I just haven't summoned the desire to sit down on the computer and document my work.

But it's a pleasant Sunday morning. I'm lying on the inflatable couch on my back porch with the laptop. The veggie patch is watered. The shed is clean. The house is organized. Time to catch this blog up.

First, the veggie patch-
My last post was early January, documenting the construction of my backyard raised garden bed for veggies. I immediately planted rainbow chard, arugula, kale, and carrots from seed. It was basically a giant failure. Nothing got much bigger than an inch. I started some broccoli and cabbage indoors for transplanting. Same story. The arugula, carrots, and chard and still struggling along in the bed, but they just seem stunted in growth. I don't know if it's the soil, the light, too much/too little watering. It's not clear. But until it's time to plant okra, I'll just keep them there to see what happens.

More importantly, I planted the spring garden in the past month. February was so warm, and so I bought two tomato plants (San Marzano and a big slicer) from Tillery Street Plants (not a great selection, but they were cheap and it's close by my house) and put them in sometime in mid February. It was an inexpensive gamble for an early spring tomato harvest. No freezes since I planted them, so I think the gamble paid off!

On March 4, I went to the Sunshine Gardens Spring Plant Sale and picked up another tomato (Super Marzano), a tomatillo, and an eggplant (Feng yuan variety). I planted those in my raised bed, along with some seeds I bought online this winter. I planted two kinds of basil (not in raised bed, in a big pot), Persian cucumbers, zucchini, and green beans. The green beans and basil are from Baker Creek. The zucchini is from a Burpee seeds stand at Home Depot. The cucumbers were harder to find, but I snatched them from Renee's Garden. I am excited about the Persian cucumbers, because I think they're the same kind I eat when I visit my family in Israel. They are smaller than the one we normally eat here in the US, and they are extremely crunchy. Sometimes they sell them at Central Market, but I'm excited to have my own supply.

A seedling popping up. (I can't remember but I think it's the cucumber)

The raised bed after planting. The cage is made of invasive bamboo I harvested from a vacant lot down the street. My tomatoes are indeterminate, so I'm trying to give them tons of structure to grow on.

That's my update from the veggie patch. I'm excited to see how this spring garden pans out. A month or so in and so far so good! The early-planted tomatoes are growing, and the seeds have all germinated. Some are putting on first leaves. I will keep the blog updated as the garden progresses.

Stay tuned. The next post will be my ornamental garden (front yard) Spring update.