Day 57 of the Spring Veggies Box. The salad squares are still producing a lot of greens to give me salads every day. The spinach is starting to slow down and started to bolt (trying to flower and set seeds). The carrots still have ways to go before we can harvest. ^^; The sweet williams have really started to grow and began shooting up longer stems with more buds. I'm so glad I mixed in some flowers for color. Also, there are insects that come to my garden and flowers will help entice them. I see a fair number of wasps in my garden, but they are not at all interested in us. They seem to patrol the greens, looking for worms and other insects to capture. I have seen a few ladybugs here and there, but not many. The snowpeas have caught up in height to the Alaska peas, but they are not liking the heat by the look of yellowing leaves at the bottom of the plants. I will start them much earlier in the season next spring. And I will plant a little more densely than suggested. ^^ I am thinking about a fall crop though, for which I will have to sow them around first or second week of August, I believe.
My garden fairies are starting to be obscured by the plants. The bachelors buttons (tied with a string to a railing) are still blooming strong, but starting to turn a little yellowish at the bottom.
The Corn Box. Looking very green and vigorous. I still have issues with my cats trying to get into the box and laying between the rows... XD
I have really been enjoying the Swiss chard "Neon Lights" this spring. As you can see in this picture, the colors are gorgeous on the stemps and veins. They are mild enough to be used in most anything. I take outer leaves often and use in soups and stir-fries all the time.
And last update today is on the Summer Veggies Box. Everything seems to be enjoying the hot weather. All three tomatoes actually have flower buds although you can't see them in the picture. The Italian parsley is looking less leggy now that they are out in the sun and no longer in the hot house. The four o'clocks seemed to take forever to germinate, but they did come up and slowly growing. Of course, when they are seedlings, everything grows so slowly. I am finally seeing bean seedlings show up. I really don't know what took them so long. I was expecting them to germinate in 7 to 10 days as the packet said, but it was more like 20 days (Starting to suspect a batch of old seeds in new packets for 2012? Do seed companies do that?). In the little black seed starter pack (in the upper left of the box), I have seedlings of flowering kale/cabbage -- pink Kamome, a Japanese hybrid. I have never grown flowering kale ever, but always enjoyed their rose-like appearance and color late in the season when nothing else seems to be growing. I purchased a small packet of seeds from a seller on eBay. They germinated in 5 days. I will be moving one into a square in the Summer Veggies Box and hoping to get two big pots to put in the front yard. I'm also thinking about starting another box for late season color -- flowers like kale and chrysanthemum. We'll see. ^_^
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