My Green Thumb

It's been a little over a month and a half since I updated how things are going out in my garden.  The good news is, Stuff is Growing.  The Bad News is, it's not all Stuff that I wanted to grow. 

Wow...that is a lot of grass growing in that garden...which, is lesson number to take away right now...don't skip/half-ass steps.

I was under the gun this spring, trying to get the garden in from scratch.  I did the tilling, I broke the grass up and turned it over, I added some good soil and compost...and then, I kind of half-assed it.  I know that when you are starting from grass, or even dirt, one of the steps to minimize the weeds in your garden is to cover your plot with a tarp/cardboard boxes for A WHILE when you are at the bare earth stage.  This will help to bake some of the weed/grass seed(or in my case, grass roots) that are still there after you till and turn over. 

My neighbor just goes ahead and does this for a few months...when he's done harvesting, he tills under, then puts a nice black tarp down.  A few months later, he peels the tarp back to work in some compost/manure, then puts the tarp back down.  When he's ready to plant, he pulls the tarp off, breaks up the soil, and goes to town.

Hopefully, I can try that this fall/winter.

Lesson # 2 for right now is: treat row and plant spacing instructions on the plants as a REQUIREMENT, and not a SUGGESTION.  My tomatoes are growing on top of, and into each other right now(which is nice, because they are shading out the grass between them. 

So, other than the grass, stuff is growing.  From left to right, my zucchini have started popping out flowers, so I might have my first zucchini in about two weeks.  My peppers are struggling...a few are starting to pop flowers, but they aren't as tall as I thought they would be.  Maybe sweet/hot peppers stay smaller than bell peppers.  My tomatoes, other than starting to feel crowded, are doing good.  I already have about 10-12 little cheery tomatoes growing out there.  On the right end, my Hubbard squash seems to be doing good...it's starting to send out creepers, which will make mowing the lawn over there much more interesting. 

The cabbage planted in the front looks like it is doing good...finally some balls forming in the middle of them.  I'm not sure I will go out of my way to plant them again.  We didn't want cabbage in the first place...we wanted lettuce, and asked a friend of ours to pick up some lettuce from a plant sale her daughters school was doing.  The lettuce sold out, so she got us the cabbage instead...and it just seems like the cabbage takes up a lot of space, for not a lot of reward. 

Today, before things get too warm(supposed to get to upper 80's) I will spend some time out there on my hands knees, attacking the grass under the plants with my hands, and some scissors to at least keep it off the plants.  I bought some Garden Weed and Feed, but that stuff should be used to before the season, to keep grass away...it doesn't seem like it's doing anything to get rid of the grass that is already there...