First of a Long String of (Boring?) Garden Reports

There was a short period this morning when the sun was shining (didn't last long . . . sigh) so I ran out to take some pictures of the garden.

How long have I been dreaming of a huge, home grown salad?  Well, this bed of salad greens which was planted on May 4th is finally, almost, sorta, kinda getting to be of good enough size to pick.  Shortly.  Maybe.  (Even "cool weather" crops have had a hard time growing in the frigid weather we've been having.)

This row of little cucumber sprouts (you may need a magnifying glass) is marching down a raised berm in the middle of this bed.  It's under a cold frame or the seeds would never have survived let alone sprouted.  I've already thinned them once, and will do so again.

Here are the green pepper plants starting to put forth a little growth.  Also under a cold frame.

I took a picture of my three rows of potatoes but absolutely not one single sprout of a potato vine has emerged yet.  Then I realized how silly it would be to post it as all the picture showed was . . . mounds of dirt.

Speaking of potatoes though . . . regardless of what Ruth Stout proclaims, I've never gotten but half the crop of potatoes grown under straw compared with those grown the traditional way in dirt.  But, heck, since I had some extra potato eyes, an extra raised bed, and some straw, I couldn't keep myself from planting these eyes under straw.  Sure wish they would produce better; the potatoes are so nice and clean grown this way.

My little patch of old, geriatric strawberry plants (bless their blooming little hearts) has lots of lovely blossoms.  They will produce the only berries we'll get this year as the newly planted ones will be de-budded so all the strength goes to the plant.  But next year . . . whoa, Nellie, we will have strawberries!

This morning over at Ewe's Crazy & So is I!, Lisa posted a picture of her Sweet Peas that are starting to bloom.  Well, to say mine are a little behind hers . . . they are pictured here along the trellis running the length of this bed.  They're about 3-5" high, at the most.  Maybe I'll post a picture of mine blooming in a month.  Or two.  Or three.

I'm using Wall O' Water protectors around my cherry tomatoes for the first time this year.  The tubes aren't fully filled with water as I wanted the tops to stay a bit closed up to protect the tender little plants for a while yet.  I've got two eggplants I still have to set out, and they will be surrounded by their own Wall O' Water mini-greenhouses, too.

This is one of my rows of shell peas.  Coming up strong and healthy.

This one is for you, Sue.  It's the bed of Lauren's Purple Poppies you sent me seeds for a couple of years ago.  (These poppies seed themselves in the fall by way of the seeds they drop, so your bed is perennial.  Sue warned me that once I planted them, I'd never be able to get rid of them.)  Well, my dear husband darned near kilt them off(!) this year.  He was doing such a good job of spreading compost on the gardens early this spring that he did so on the poppy bed before I could remind him not to.  It's not that the compost/fertilizer would be bad for them, but that it would bury the minuscule seeds under too much matter.  And it did.  I had only one small corner of the bed where a couple poppies appeared at the time they should have sprouted.  BUT!  Sue knows of what she speaks, because apparently the wind did a good job of spreading seeds last fall, and I populated this whole bed with transplanted poppies I found sprouting EVERYWHERE in my garden!  For which I was very thankful because I love, love, love these poppies and would have been very sad had I lost the bed.

Had planned on working in the garden today but the rain started before I could get out there.  Then it stopped, the sun came out and I was waiting for things to dry out a bit when the rain started again.  Then fog blanketed us and kept everything soaked but good.  Ah, well.  Maybe tomorrow.