Oats, Peas, Beans

Our garden is finally up and running. Mostly.

It took us a while to get started, because we were travelling, and then we had guests, and then we were sick, and then enough other stuff had piled up that we didn't have time to turn over the plot and put up fencing (we're required to fence ourselves, and fairly high due to deer).


BUT! We finally managed to get started a few weeks ago. We're trying a mixture of seeds and seedlings, since there were still frost warnings in late May. We get a 10'x15' plot (or we could buy a double plot, which many people do) over in the Northwood community garden area. It's a lot of fun to see what everyone else is growing.

We have a lettuce bed (3 kinds), a pepper bed (both hot and sweet), a tomato bed, a peas and beans bed, and the last one has basil (including Thai basil) and spinach.

When we were buying our materials, we noticed a lot of cantaloupe, both seeds and seedlings. Very popular. I'm not used to seeing cantaloupe so prevalent in gardens! Watermelons, yes. Cantaloupe, no. The climate is fairly similar to back home, so I don't know whether it's a cultural difference or a subtle soil difference. (Zucchini does seem less of a problem here.)


Just after we finished planting, we had several days of heavy rain. Really heavy rain. Enough to move some of those seeds around, so we're not sure where everything will wind up. It also resulted in this giant influx of some weed that is covering the entire garden (and most of our neighbors'). Until this week, it's been too small to pull up. But we absolutely need to, since the worst patch is blanketing the sweet pepper seeds. They're the only thing we haven't seen hide nor hair of. The beans and peas, of course, shot up out of nowhere and are already flirting with the tomatoes for height. The lettuce is looking great, but it's almost time to thin it out - which I've never done before.


Besides this annoying weed, we're struggling with the basil plants. The first day or two, they were thriving and happy. When we went back after the drenching rains, they were really unhappy. Turning yellow. So, we assumed they got too much water and left them alone. I watered them lightly once later that week, since the soil was almost bone dry. The problem didn't go away.

I've taken to watering one of them and not the other so I can narrow down whether it's too much water or too little water that's killing them. No difference - they're both barely surviving. I'm going to have to buy another bush to ensure successful basil! At the same time, everything else has had the same amount of water and is doing just fine. I'm used to basil being stronger than this.


As of today, the spinach is finally poking through. It was another spot with so much of this weed that we were afraid that the seeds would be crowded out. However, the spinach made it. Still no sign of the sweet peppers. I left room on that bed for a couple of seedlings if need be. It may needs be. Pepper seedlings and a new basil bush. Yeesh.

I love watching how quickly the beans and peas grow. My photos are already out of date!