Mid-Season Kickoff

Welcome. It's the third week in July and the garden is in full swing. So we're a tad late in launching this, but that's OK. No better time than the present. Here's the highlight reel of activities so far this year:

MARCH -- After three summers and the sporadic pots of flowers and vegetables, we make the decision to go for the full-blown vegetable garden. Buy seeds and start tomatoes (roma and beefsteak), eggplant, broccoli, peppers.

APRIL -- Build four 4x8 foot (10-inch high) raise beds in the back yard. Fill with loam and homegrown compost that had been cooking all winter. Plant peas, spinach, and mesclun

MAY -- Plant more spinach and mesclun. Plant first crop of lettuce (baby romaine and buttercrunch); zucchini, summer squash, pattypan squash, pole beans, carrots, and cukes. In a different section of the yard, we plant four Jersey blueberry bushes and four raspberry vines. Lament over not getting any asparagus crowns to plant.

JUNE -- Transplant tomatoes (adding a couple of mounded beds to accommodate the volume), broccoli and a couple of rogue squash-looking plants sprouting from seeds left over in the compost; plant a few rows of silverqueen corn (this is a true experiment). Plant cauliflower, more carrots, and new peppers (the seedlings never took off). Harvest lettuces. In yet another section of yard, start a pumpkin patch with three different varieties. Cross fingers in hopes of enough sun hitting that patch...

JULY -- Keep everything going. Think about what more we could get in the ground for a late summer and fall harvest (beets anyone?). Buy a couple rhubarb plants from the Sakonnet Growers Market.

Whew... that was a lot. But now you're up to speed. Already so many lessons learned (lots of notes in a notebook).

We hope you enjoy some of the pictures...