Garden Update

It has now been 20 days since my and Carrie's day-o-gardening in the rain. The garden has since been weeded (although I can't seem to stay ahead of the crab grass), watered several times (we had a week solid of rain at one point - yayy for free water!), and the space between the plants and rows covered with grass clippings to help reduce weeds and retain moisture.

Carrots (Orange): Not as many of the starts took as I had hoped. Once the garden began getting watered regularly after the week of rain, the remaining starts settled and the tops have gotten taller and fluffier.

Cucumbers (Green): The foliage looks great. Haven't seen much evidence of the actual vegetable yet, but there's plenty of time.

Five-Blend Lettuce (Blue): Only one of the starts really took and looks like it may actually produce something. There are a few other starts that are hanging in there, but they are pretty pathetic.

Radishes (Red): Holy cow did the radishes go insane! They are about done and ready to be harvested. Crunchy, zingy salads, here we come!

Romaine (Pink): Of the two lettuce varieties we planted, I'm glad the Romaine is the one that really took. I prefer Romaine to all other types of lettuce. It was touch and go with these plants for awhile, but they seem to have settled in and are coming along nicely.

Corn (Yellow): What would an Iowa garden be without sweet corn? The corn plants are looking great and growing noticeably taller by the day.

Broccoli and Spinach (Not pictured): Both the broccoli and spinach plants are surviving, but beyond that I am not really sure how well they are doing. For both the broccoli and the spinach, very few actually started, so that already put the harvest potential at a great disadvantage. Very few of the people I have talked to have actually tried to grow either of these vegetables, so we are all watching to see what happens.

This weekend I think I will be trying (once again) to get the crab grass under control. We have some Miracle Grow food in the garage that I will most likely be utilizing as well.

Karen, I hope I have been descriptive enough that your vicarious gardening tendencies are satisfied.

Love!

~g