Garden update spring 2011

The garden's growing thanks to manual watering!  We've had so little rain this Spring that they've definitely needed the assistance. 

Our compost is also growing.  Yes, you read that correctly.  Doesn't it look pretty? 

No, this was not the plan.  (But how often do my plans work out anyway?)  Underneath those pretty vines were planted some flower seeds.  Zinnias.  A BUNCH of zinnias.  Granted, they were seeds from a previous year, but I thought it was worth a shot.  And some of them were growing.  But I don't think they are going to make it now.  This vine is a bit all consuming!  This probably would not have happened if we turned out compost even somewhat regularly like you are 'supposed to do.'  FYI, turning compost is not an easy job for a pregnant woman, so I just didn't do it.  So now we have things growing from our compost.  In case you weren't aware, compost makes really good soil.  The funniest thing about this is that we don't know which kind of vine this is!  It is flowering now, so we're sure to find out soon.  What's your guess?

The kids spotted this ladybug on the vine this morning and wanted me to take a picture.  I like the pretty drops of water myself.   You can also see in this picture how the vine is starting to work it's way up the netting.  We really will have a pretty compost bin if this keeps up! 

Now for some closeups

These are melons.  Specifically, I THOUGHT I had planted one row of cantaloupes and one row of watermelons.  But all 3 of these plants look different.  Again, apparently my planning needs some work.  (I think I can safely blame this oops on the children mixing the seeds in the seed packets.)  The top one is flowering already, the bottom two aren't yet.

These are some flowers.  Zinnias, I think, but not 100% sure.  They were given to the kids at the Moms Together Bible study.  The older 3 all had a little cup with them but only one survived.  Daddy helped them be planted one evening while I was in washing the dishes.  Otherwise they would be growing dying under the vines by the compost bin and not in the middle of the fruit/vegetable garden

Here are the sprawling tomato plants.  We are excited!  There are TONS of green tomatoes all over these three plants.  And no sign of stink bugs yet... yeah!  The one on the right is starting to lean even with the cage around it so I'll probably be adding another cage to help support its growth/weight in the next couple of days. 

Do you see the pretty little marigolds in the front?  In the past I have planted marigolds from seed and over fertilized them.  Do you know what happens when you over fertilize marigolds?  They grow of course, but just stems.  I have never had any pretty marigold flowers, just really really really long stems.  (I bought transplants this year and now I get pretty flowers.)  

Here are the cucumber plants.  The front one has just started flowering so hopefully we'll have some fresh cucumbers to munch on soon.

To the left of the melons were planted some elephant garlic.  Earlier this week, Big J harvested them for me and now they are 'curing' (drying) on the grill.  We are happy with the size and hope to be happy with the taste! 

That is Little J's hand for size comparison.  (I started to use mine and then decided it would be much cuter to use the kids.)  The front garlic is our biggest yield.

The girls (of course) also wanted their hand photographed with the produce.  Here's the third garlic with R's hand in front of it.  (Her hand is only slightly smaller than Little J's.)  In size, this one rates between the other 2 garlic bulbs.

So there's the update!  Now if we ever move, and start a new garden, I would like to try the square foot gardening my SIL uses.  See her pretty (and so well organized!) garden here.  Maybe then I'll actually know what exactly is planted where.  Seems like a nice concept, doesn't it?  :)