The point will come when I stop showing you blurry pictures of little green bits and going on and on about how excited I am that things in my garden are growing. I’m pretty sure it will, anyway.
But it’s not here yet. Especially because I went out the other morning and suddenly! There was a whole bunch more STUFF! Out of NOWHERE! Like MAGIC! And I feel the need to share, because this way we’ll have a nice backdrop upon which to consider the subsequent bitching sure to come when I have beans coming out my ears and a freezer full of shredded zucchini, yes?
And also because I’m feeling more confident that the things I’m seeing are actual plants-on-purpose rather than weeds. Though I maintain that the grass-looking things from the other day are actually spinach. Now Otto has told me that we are expecting a freeze tomorrow night and I’m worried everything is going to die even if we cover it, so I have to take pictures before the Apocalypse. Or something.
Until I stop being obsessed with my garden, though, you get pictures.
Dude! Zucchini! There’s three of them, actually, but here’s two of them for your viewing pleasure.
This is what happens when I try to get a picture of three plants, all together, with the Lensbaby. You get uber-sharp mulch and blurry plants. Oh well. But look—burgundy beans! Yay!
Right now the three burgundy bean plans are outrunning this lone, single wax bean plant. But given that all of them seemed to pop up out of nowhere overnight, I think it’ll be okay. Why, the rest of the mulch is probably covering a MULTITUDE of wax bean sprouts, just about to break the surface. Related: If you like 3-bean salad, you might want to come visit this summer. I suspect we’re going to have a lot of it.
The tiny alien from a few days ago has proven to be a green bean plant, after all. And more are coming up in the other corners of the boxes, like here.
Monkey would like you to know that his cabbage is “looking very vigorous,” too. (And in case you’re wondering, the correct response to a declaration of his cabbage’s vigor is, “Thank you for the update, Poindexter.”)
May your garden continue to thrive! We’re later than you and it’s too early to plant, but my tulips, pussywillow, crocus and daffodils are all showing signs of said vigor!
They should all be ok for this week’s freezes if you throw a bedsheet across it all. Water well first, and put rocks on the corners so it doesn’t blow away. The wind is as hard on the plants as the cold.
I love 3 bean salad and I’ll be there at noon, this July, to eat some. Thanks for the invite. My seeds are cozy and warm, indoors under a plant light and have not yet sprouted (8 days) They are developmentally delayed and I will have no one making fun of them. They will sprout when they are ready.
Hehe, “vigorous” cabbage… cute!
I’m thinking of doing some container gardening out on my patio… hopefully it’s not too late to start. It’s still freezing here :(
The mulch looks eerily black-and-white, with the green plants.. looks like a scene out of Sin City.
Yay! New seedlings are always so exciting! :D I’m having a year off from gardening this year (I knackered my knee) but I am missing the excitement of new germinations…
We’re expecting accumulating snow tonight and tomorrow so I’m taking my dire need for spring to come NOW from your pictures. Thanks for keeping hope alive :)
Imagine how cool it would be to one day make a salad, and everything in it — grew in your back yard!
What are you mulching with? I fear so much when I mulch the vegetable garden – the chemicals in the wood, the taste of the wood leaching into my vegetables — what are you mulching with? I’d love not to have to weed.
You crack me up, so much like us. Last weekend we planted: zucchini, tomatoes (I don’t eat them, so I don’t know what kind, just that they’re there,) red bells (mine), lettuce, and corn in the outside garden. Then I got a bug in my bonnet, so to speak, and came home w/a dwarf avocado tree, a graphed peach/nectarine tree (2 kinds of each so we’ll get them at different times of the season), and a graphed apple w/yellow delicious, Fuji, gala & granny smith (how you like them apples? Couldn’t resist, sorry). Not to be out done, Daddy went & got raspberry plants. And our seedlings so far are green beans, watermelon, pumpkins & lettuce (after planting too many plants all at once we’re going to try and stagger this year.)
I can’t get enough of your garden p0rn. I was into this before kids and now that the youngest is about to be 3 it looks like I can get back into it. I’m so excited! It’s Spring here in Nor Cal!
When I saw the four–FOUR!–cucumber seedlings popping through the soil in my un-mulched, ridiculously haphazardly planted garden, I actually whooped. And thought of you. To vigorous gardens, and a summer of veggies!
Waah! You didn’t believe me when I declared your alien a green bean plant?! Thou doth not trust me. Alas.
Not seeing this post until this morning, I hope you have already realized that covering will protect from freeze.
Poindexter is very smart.
I’m hoping the covering up protects them. I plan on doing the same tonight for my river birch trees….we are expecting a freeze tonight–not last night. =o(
Oh, and better green beans rather than peas…shelling peas for days on isn’t the way to spend your summer—trust me!
Monkey might enjoy looking up Alaskan cabbages – they take vigor to an entirely new level:
http://www.gadling.com/2007/07/16/giant-mutant-like-vegetables-at-alaska-state-fair/
Um… thank you for the update, Poindexter. ;)
I’ll be excited about plant growth — oh, in about 7-8 weeks. Right now I’ll just admire your garden from afar and keep spreading compost so I can feel useful.
GARDEN PR0N!
Those people who say “the Intarwebz are for pr0n” are right after all!
:-)
I started tomatoes, one zucchini and some zinnias from seeds at the same time. The zucchini is about a foot high and has no less than 10 buds/blossoms. The tomatoes and zinnias are not even 6 inches tall and appear to be struggling, but maybe that is only in comparison to the monster zucchini (I admit that if I were a seed I would probably be intimidated by something that grows almost as fast as kudzu). I put the zucchini in a heavy ceramic pot because I was afraid it was going to climb the stairs and eat us while we were sleeping.
It being winter still here in the Great Old Northeast (humor me), I haven’t yet put anything in the ground. I had wanted to do peas, but I think it might be too late now (since you should put them in as soon as you can work the ground).
To those wondering what to mulch with – the best mulch is compost. If you can set up your own compost pile (we set up our own this year for the first time, yay!) even better, but garden centers sell it too. But if you’re looking for what to put around the plants to keep weeds down, grass clippings make good cover. Weed well first, make sure you’ve already tilled in your mulch (compost, manure) and then spread a thick layer of clippings on top.It’ll keep weeds down for weeks.
It’s nice to have a horticulturist for a best friend ;). And Neil – I have done the salad-with-everything-from-my-garden,and it’s delish. Also the pasta-sauce-with-everything-from-my-garden, including onions and garlic. Awesome.