May is winding down, and my garden is looking a little sad. That isn't suppose to happen until the sweltering heat of July sets in. For the past five years, I have been slowly transitioning into a grow-my-own-food gardener. I started with the basics: I stuck a rhubarb plant in an area of my yard previously overrun with weeds, and I potted a few tomato plants. Each year, I have bumped it up a notch by adding new vegetables to my garden. Last year I even started a few varieties from seed. Aside from my rhubarb, my garden has remained a container garden, so that slightly dictates what I grow. This year, however, I did more than simply bump it up a notch. This year, I feel like I turned the knob so many notches that it may have broke, but it is too early in the season to know.
Up until today, I personally started every plant in my garden from seed. I started only a few plants from seed last year, so this is huge. On top of that, I am growing more varieties of my traditional plants and I am growing vegetables I have not yet tried. Tomatoes, cucumbers, and green peppers have been garden staples for me, along with my trusty rhubarb plants and my basic herb garden. New this year are chili peppers, tequila peppers, a really long named German grape tomato, zucchini, squash, carrots, radishes, beets, baby red potatoes, and purple potatoes. I'm a bit concerned that I may have bit off more than I can chew this season.
Mid-March, I planted my seeds indoors using peat-pots. My guest bedroom transformed into a mini-greenhouse; I set up a card table in front of the windows, placed my labeled peat-pots on trays, and diligently watered them with words and H2O. I even attempted to make miniature terrariums using small, clear, plastic cups that I found stored away and collecting dust in the laundry room. I can't say for sure that the cups helped my sprouts any, but it at least looked like I was doing something to help them grow. Every day, my eyes scoured the soil for seedlings, and I squealed with delight every time I found a new sprout breaking ground. I was pretty proud of myself when I had something growing in almost every one of my 80 peat-pots.
At this point, other than a few herbs, I have transferred all of my seedlings to containers outside. I am growing a little concerned, however, at the lack of growth in my plants. While all of my seedlings have transitioned well, they are still so very tiny. I am beginning to wonder if I will ever get to eat any produce from my plants. It is almost the first of June, and my tomato and pepper plants are only a few inches tall and barely thicker than a toothpick! Every once in a while, I like to read the blog My Skinny Garden and while her name stems from a different reason, I feel like that's what I should be calling my garden. It is so incredibly skinny right now! While at the farmer's market this morning, I broke down and purchased a substantial green pepper plant and two leafy basil plants. I needed some reassurance that I would be able to harvest something from my garden this year! The only vegetables that I know I will be able to harvest for sure are my carrots, radishes, and beets. I sowed those directly outdoors, and they have surpassed my other plants in leaps and bounds. I'm eager to see how successful those three veggies are!
The aspect of my garden that I am probably most excited about is my potatoes! I am attempting to grow potatoes via the garbage can method, which is sort of a new concept around here. I've never seen or heard of anyone else around here doing it, so the novelty of the concept is of course fun, but I'm also excited because I think it is working! I planted baby reds in one can and purple fingerlings in the other. Both have leafy sprouts growing. The reds are to the point that I need to add more soil to the can tomorrow and cover them; the purples need a little more growth before I add more soil.
At any rate, I think I can count on this year's garden being successful. I don't think I turned the knob far enough to break it when I bumped it up a few notches. I was able to grow plants from seeds. Gold star for that. I'm going to be able to harvest radishes soon. Another gold star. My beets are maturing. Gold star number three. I should have a harvest of not only one but two varieties of potatoes. A fourth gold star. If I can claim four gold stars already in the end of May, then I at least accomplished something, and that's pretty sweet! I'm already beginning to wonder what I should do with my garden next year...
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