Where is Summer?

I am still waiting for summer like temperatures to get here. The weather has been anything but normal around here. We might have one day close to the normal high and then 3 or 4 below normal temperature days. Today we made it to around 77 degrees, which is below normal, but felt warm when compared to the other days. I had to cover the corn bed after the corn germinated to keep the birds out of it. So far so good. The corn is behind, but so are the farmer's field corn. Most of the corn I have been seeing in the fields around Indiana is only about 2 inches tall. In most years the corn is nearly a foot tall by now.

Some of the veggies that like cooler temperature are growing relatively well like the lettuce (see first pic below), broccoli, cabbage, etc. The potatoes in my Potato Bag are growing really well (see second pic below). I did have to water it really well after I took that picture as the vines were wilting a bit. I suspect that this bag will need to be watered a little more than the other beds. I tried growing radishes for the first time this year. I directly sowed "Champion" radish seeds using seed tape (because the seeds are small and I am too lazy to do much thinning). They turned out pretty good and I have been harvesting them. Not too hot and still crunchy, but not pithy. I like the fact that they are ready to harvest in about 3o days.

I also took a picture of my brussel sprouts, broccoli, and cabbage plot (see third pic below). I side dressed fertilizer on the broccoli about 6 days ago using Vegetables Alive! Fertilizer from Gardens Alive. The broccoli seems to be growing well, but I did have to spray them for the first time this year with Bt for control of the worms, which have started to appear. My first planting of green beans have germinated, but they are waiting for warmer weather to start growing like all the other warm season plants.

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.