Flash Flood Warnings

It has been raining and raining and raining. And raining.

I haven't been able to spend much time in the garden, but it appears the plants are doing fine without me. Lots of flowers are beginning to bloom on the zucchini and yellow squash and buds are definitely developing on the pumpkin and cucumber plants. It looks like it won't be long before we'll be eating the squash actually-- check the photo!

I managed to get some plants into my second bed before the monsoon hit. I decided to plant three rows, instead of four, to reduce crowding. I planted several tomato plants and a few pea plants in the back row. The second row is home to a lettuce plant, zinnia, onion and lots of spinach. The front row has basil, dill, cucumber, 2 zucchini and 1 yellow squash.

I wish I had thought to put the onion in the middle of my first bed, then the zucchini and pumpkin and yellow squash wouldn't be all smushed up against one another. The pumpkin and cucumber are starting to put out vines too. Are they going to choke one another with those? I installed some stakes and a little trellis for them to grab hold of; hopefully, that'll help.

The Garden To Be

Happy spring!

It has been a long and dreary winter, but we made it through. I've spent a lot of time looking forward to this season and have decided to get in touch with my inner gardener this year.

A little over a week ago, I went over to the garden center of our local hardware store and picked up several envelopes of seeds. I just grabbed whatever looked good to me. I have absolutely no background or expertise in gardening or horticulture, but I figure I'll give it a try. The garden center employee I consulted was more than happy to give me several trays to plant my seeds in, free of charge. I also commandeered an egg crate from our kitchen to plan the little guys in.

In all, getting started cost me about $20. The trays were free and we had some soil left over from last year. The packets of seeds ran about $2 per variety.

I enlisted the help of my nine year-old cousin and together on April 3rd, we planted a few trays full of tomato, lettuce, zucchini, onion, cucumber and cabbage seeds. I plan on documenting their growth with this journal.

7 days later we noticed our first little sprout! The tomato seedlings appear to be the first to peak out of the soil, but the lettuce seeds aren't but a day behind the tomatoes.

I've been keeping the trays out on our back porch in direct sunlight. Although, the tomato packet recommended keeping the seedlings indoors near a window, so I bring those in at night and on chillier days. Today has been particularly rainy so I brought in both the tomato and lettuce trays. I'm a little worried the other trays are getting too much water, but the sun should come out this afternoon and hopefully that will just solve everything. I don't want the little guys to drown before they even sprout!