Garden Update - May 1

The arugula is out and in the compost heap after bolting.  I was expecting it to bolt since it weathered the near freeze.  The fennel is in the compost heap as well after it somehow pinched off near the surface and died.  I’ve replanted another square with arugula and the same square with fennel.  The arugula was sprouting only a couple days after I planted it.  I’ll see how the fennel does.

The original square of radishes are gone, of course.  The second square looks like it will be ready in a week or so.  I went ahead and planted a third square with radishes so I won’t have to wait three or four weeks again.  When I went to plant the third square of radishes, the ants had made their home beneath the mulch.  I turned it all in, including the ants, and planted the radishes.

I hate ants.  My first reaction was to buy ant poison and try to get rid of the ants, but I’ve since decided to let them be.  If I need to do a lot of work in the bed and the ants make it a pain (perhaps even literally), then I’ll consider using the poison.  Until then, I’ll let them live around the garden, aerate the soil, and take care of some of the pests.  As long as the plants are happy and I can harvest, I’m happy.

A friend of mine had too many onions, so I got 20 or so and planted them where the first square of radishes had been.  They demonstrate well what I’ve seen in a few other plants (e.g., the sweet pepper in the south bed): living things will do almost anything to keep living.  The pepper plant had almost all of its leaves munched off and now has a completely new set.  It’s probably a month behind everything else, but it’s pushing on.  The onions were all dried up with only a small bit of green, but they perked right up and are thriving now.

In the small pots are basil and sage.  I decided to put a few herbs in pots so I could move them around.  I also wanted some of the space in the garden for vegetables.  My successful herbs so far: oregano, rosemary, celantro, sage, basil, and dill.  I expect the dill to volunteer next year if I let it go to see this year.  That’s how it was back home.  It grew in amongst the blackberry vines.

My larger pot which isn’t pictured here holds a small lemon tree.  I decided to grow it in a container so I could bring it indoors if I had to in the winter.  I’m thinking about planting some herbs around it though—perhaps a mint or two.  In that case, I’d probably just bring it in under the porch and cover it with something if it threatened to freeze.

The tomatoes are doing well, especially the small cherry tomato plant.  I’ve harvested eight tomatoes (about $0.17 worth at $2/lb for those keeping score), four of them today.  I expect it to accelerate until I’m bringing quite a few in each day.  The greens are growing nicely as well.  I should be able to begin harvesting in another week or so.  The spinach is still small—the slowest growing, it seems.  I went ahead and planted some lettuce today in a couple empty squares.  We’ll see how it does.

The spaghetti squash is growing the fastest of the squashes.  It’s grabbing onto anything within reach, even the tomato plant a few squares over, which makes me think it should be trellised.  We never did when I was younger.  I’m not confident a trellis would handle the weight anyway.  It will make mowing a bit of a challenge, but I might be able to just move it around as I mow.  Worst case, I can get some straw or other material and make a bed for it outside the garden bed—something to allow good drainage so the squash doesn’t rot on the ground.