Tuesday Garden Update: May 25th - Spring Garden Lessons

Our garden is in transition from the "spring garden" to the "summer garden". We've been harvesting snow peas, broccoli, cauliflower, snow peas, shelling peas (blanched and into the freezer for now), lettuce, carrots and green onions. I need to harvest beets and more carrots this week. My wonderful husband added one more section to the raised bed this weekend, which I planted today.The tomatoes and peppers are growing, but showing signs of some aphids.

Here are some things we've learned about what we've planted:

1. Plant more carrots, green onions, and spinach. These grow a lot in a small space, and we use all of them!
2. If more room, plant more cauliflower and broccoli.
3. Plant less lettuce. Even as much as we use, I need to stagger the planting, so the harvestable lettuce isn't coming all at once.
4. Plant more flowers. I have some marigolds and nasturtiums planted, but I should have put them in much, much earlier. We need to attract good bugs to our garden!

In the new bed section, I planted potatoes. We picked the seed potatoes up from this nice organic gardening center in a nearby town. I did NOT write down the two varieties that we got, oops! I have no idea how they will turn out, so stay tuned :)

My quandry right now is -- what to do with the plants that are "done"? For example, while the broccoli plants are still producing side shoots, the cauliflower is done. I'm leaving the plants there for now, as they improve the environment for the other plants still growing in the bed. I'm waiting for the brussel sprouts to finish, then that first bed can be replanted. I'm thinking I will put a trellis with the acorn squash there. I know it's a little late, but I'd love to give it a shot! I will be sure to plant some more marigolds and nasturtiums also.

I hope you're enjoying your garden as much as I'm enjoying mine!