Green Beans & Pawpaws

Yesterday we went to Nana's and dug up some pawpaw tree starts. We transplanted 2 of them and left the rest in containers for now. Two of the four we planted last year appear to be doing well. One of them has a new leaf on it and the other is hanging on pretty tight so we're assuming it's grown some roots.

I gave the garden a little water tonight and noticed a few green beans starting to pop through the soil.

We Have Radishes!

Tonight I picked the first of the radishes. They still need to grow a little larger, but I'm being very impatient this year with the warmer weather we've been having. I picked 2 anyway, washed them up, and ate them. YUM!

Tonight we're expecting a frost so we covered the strawberries and I brought in the hanging plants. I have heard of a few people in the area that have already planted some tomatoes and peppers. I hope the frost doesn't get them!

The next few days are supposed to bring sunny and warm temperatures. It's going to be even harder to hold off on transplanting. I may have to sneak a few plants into the ground if it stays warm over the weekend.

First Harvest!

I picked 4 green onions today! Our strawberries really loved all of the rain we got yesterday. Temps have been in the mid 60's for a few days and are expected to be in the 70's for the rest of the week. We mowed down the dandelions tonight as well.

April Showers & Storms

We had a little rain yesterday and today is overcast and wet. We're expecting storms later on in the evening. Temps have been steady in the upper 60's for the past few days. The second row of radishes that I planted is beginning to grow. The threat of storms has kept my seedlings indoors for the past few days as well. I've moved my summer squash into larger pots since they were getting too big for the seed trays. Next year, I need to start them in the larger pots.

Planting Schedule & Update

Today was beautiful - sunny and low 70's. If the temps and weather continue to cooperate with us, I plan to get most if not all of my vegetable seeds/seedlings (depending on their size) into the garden no later than May 9th. The average last spring frost that I can find online is around the first week in May.

Update:

Garden:

• GREAT - Onions, Radish, Strawberries
• OK - Lettuce
• NOTHING - Cilantro, Broccoli, Marigolds, Green Beans

Seed Trays:

• All seeds sprouted - Watermelon (6/6), Cucumbers (12/12), Cantaloupe (5/5), SS Beef Tomatoes (18/18), Summer Squash (7/7), Zucchini (6/6)
• Most seeds sprouted - Spaghetti Squash (4/6), Hot Peppers (5/6), SS100 Tomatoes (8/9), 4th of July Tomatoes (16/18)
• Struggling - Bell Peppers (3/12)

Nice Day - mid 60's

I put the seed trays out this morning before leaving for work. Some of the squash are almost too big for the small containers they're in. They are beginning to use up all of the water by the end of the workday when they sit outside. When I got home, some were slightly wilted. I watered them and within 15 minutes or so, they perked right back up. I'll have to transplant them into larger containers before time to plant in the garden. The containers behind the seedling have pawpaw tree seeds in them that we're trying to get to grow. These pawpaw trees have proven to be the most difficult thing we've ever tried to grow.

Onions

Radishes

Lettuce

Chilly Morning

Today we awoke to a frost advisory until 9am. Last week I put my seed trays out in the morning before leaving for work around 7am and they enjoyed the bright sunlight the entire day until it started to get cool around 7pm. Today was a little chilly for them, so they just enjoyed the warmth of the garage. They grow really well in the garage, but don't see full sunlight or get exposed to the wind to make their stems strong.

Below are all of my seedlings resting happily in the garage this evening.

First Blog Post - Start of Gardening Season

Welcome! I'm going to give blogging a try starting with my vegetable garden this year. We have already planted a few seeds in the garden and the seeds that were planted in trays in the garage have developed into some nice looking seedlings.

We've purchased 15 bags of garden soil to work into each area we plant in. Our Indiana soil is more like clay than good growing soil. In the fall last year, we dumped quite a bit of leaves, pine needles, and burn pile waste into the garden hoping to loosen the soil a little this year. I also composted directly into the soil by dumping uncooked kitchen scraps directly into the garden and covering them with dirt. I believe these steps did loosen the soil a little, but it still needs some work.

This year, we plan to plant the following items in our garden:

• Spaghetti Squash
• Radish
• Cucumber
• Zucchini
• Summer Squash
• Sweet Corn
• Cantaloupe
• Watermelon (new for us in 2010)
• Leaf Lettuce
• Cilantro
• Hot Peppers
• Bell Peppers
• Tomatoes
• Green Beans
• Onions
• Broccoli

The timeline of events leading up to today for my veggie garden are as follows:
April 1, 2010
Planted Tomato (Roma, Super Sweet 100 Hybrid, Super Beefsteak, 4th of July), Cantaloupe, Squash, Cucumber (Bush Champion, Early Pride Hybrid), Zucchini, Watermelon, Spaghetti Squash, Bell Peppers (Grand Bell Mix Pepper, California Wonder Pepper), and Hot Pepper Mix seeds in trays in garage.

April 2, 2010
Planted Cherry Belle Radish, Green Ice Lettuce, and Onion sets in garden. I planted some onion sets just below the surface of the dirt and others about 3-4 inches deep. The shallow ones will be regular onions and the deeper ones will be my green onions.

April 11, 2010
Planted Broccoli, Cilantro, & Marigold seeds in the garden.

April 17, 2010
Planted another row of Radishes and Lettuce and one more short row of Onion sets for green onions. This should space out the harvesting dates just enough to enjoy each just a little longer in the season.

April 18, 2010
Taking a chance here - planted a row of Green Beans (Bush Blue Lake 274) seeds in the garden. Last year I planted green beans this early and had to replace a few. We'll see how this year works out. It's been much warmer this year than last so far, so maybe I'll get lucky and all of the plants will grow.