Missing My Garden, Cold and Wet May So Far

I was out of town and away from my garden for 8 days and I could not wait to get back to see how it was growing. It is especially hard to be away this time of year with all of the plants growing now. The May weather, so far, has been colder than normal with a fair amount of rain. The lettuce is loving this weather and has really started to grow fast. I harvested a good bit of lettuce today, with lots more to come. The warm season crops are struggling right now due to the cool weather, but the forecast is for warmer and dry weather for "Race Weekend" (that is what we call Memorial Day weekend here in Indianapolis). My potatoes are growing really well in the Potato Bag and have reached the top of the bag within the last week. Not bad for only being in the bag about one month. I added more soil around the stems yesterday. The soil is now nearly to the top of the bag. So far I am impressed with how well the potatoes have grown in the bag. My newly planted beans have been slow to germinate in the cool wet soil. My brother had to replant the corn (it was also slow to germinate) when birds apparently snapped the most of the new corn seedlings off. This is what I have been harvesting in the garden: Lettuce, green onions, chives. I will submit pictures of the garden in my next blog entry.

Spring Garden Almost All Planted

My garden is now almost all planted. I planted my broccoli and cabbage seedlings on May 3rd and planted tomato (Roma), pepper (Hot Banana, Sweet Banana, Park Whopper Green Pepper, and Super Chili) brussels sprout, and cucumber (Diva) seedlings yesterday. Oh, I almost forgot about the radishes. I planted two small rows of "Champion" radish about 2 weeks ago. They are up and growing now. I will be planting King of the Garden pole limas today along with some green beans (Espada and Roma II). I took apart my cold frame yesterday and put it away for the year. I continue to harvest green onions and I anticipate harvesting my first lettuce tomorrow as it is starting to grow now. I took down the hoop over my lettuce plot yesterday. I started some more lettuce seeds a few days ago for later planting out into the garden. The potatoes in the potato bag have emerged from the soil. My brother planted Yukon Gold potatoes in the raised bed about 5 days ago. He also planted NK-199 corn in the other raised bed on May 3rd and installed the electric fence around the bed to keep out the squirrels.

The weather has been warm and little dry over the past few weeks. Precipitation in Indianapolis for the month of April was about 2 inches below normal. I hope this is not the beginning of another dry year (like last year). I think the last frost/freeze date is past. Currently it is sunny and 82 degrees F in my garden, with the weather forecast for at least some rain and cooler temperature toward the end of this week. Cooler temps would be welcomed as some of my newly planted broccoli and cabbage seedlings are wilting somewhat in the heat of the day, but they bounce right back by morning.

Potato Bag Planted, Lettuce Growing Nicely

In my last entry I told you about the potato bag that I was going to try out this year. Well, I planted 6 Yukon Gold seed potatoes in this new bag on last Wednesday, April 23. I filled it about 1/3 full and planted the seed potatoes near the bottom of the bag. I used about 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 top soil, and 1/3 composted cow manure. As the eyes sprout and begin to form leaves, I will cover them over with more of the mix. This will cause the sprouts to form more tubers/potatoes, which is want you want. See the picture below for a picture of this potato bag. I placed it right on top of the gravel drive behind my small plot of chives. You can get one of these Potato Bags from Gardener's Supply Company by clicking here: Potato Bag

My lettuce is finally starting to grow. The weather has been unusually warm for this time of year, so I removed my plastic cover on my hoop and replaced it with a row cover. This helped out some of the lettuce seedlings that were wilting due to the excess heat that was building up under the plastic. See the picture below for a look on how the lettuce is growing under the hoop today.

The weather forecast is for cooler than normal temperature for the next few days or so. A low of 32 degrees F is predicted for Tuesday morning. I am waiting to plant my broccoli and cabbage plants until after that. They should be in the ground already, but this is the type of spring we have had so far.

I have been harvesting green onions (from my fall planted topsetting onions), and also chives.

Spring Lettuce Planted

The weather has finally turned warmer!!! I did plant some lettuce seedlings out into the garden on April 16th and a few more yesterday under the plastic hoop. Because of all of the cold March temperatures, this is about 2 weeks later than I normally like to get the lettuce in the ground. Here are the lettuce seedlings I have planted so far: Salad Bowl, Sierra, Nevada, and Grand Rapids. I am still waiting for the lettuce Green Towers seedlings to get a little bigger in order to plant out into the garden. The garden peas have started to poke up through the soil. I have harvested a few green onions already with many more to come. My brother will be planting Yukon Gold potatoes within the next week and I am going to also plant potatoes in my new Potato Bag (check back for updates on this). I am going to try to get my Pakman broccoli seedlings in the ground in about 7 to 10 days, with the cabbage and brussel sprouts not too far behind that. I figure I am probably about 3 weeks away from the average last frost (Knock on Wood).