Peony 'Sarah Bernhardt'

Peony 'Sarah Bernhardt'

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Spring Garden Update-First Week of May


Happy May Day!
Happy Beltaine!

It's the first week of May and the weather appears to finally be warming up. I think that we are finally safe from night frosts and low temperatures. I even wore shorts for the first time this week.

Here's the garden update...

Peas that have been very slow growing have doubled in height during the past 2 weeks. My strawberries are blossoming and getting prepared to bear fruit. The lettuce transplants have doubled in size and will be ready to harvest soon. I have lots of huge juicy radishes. Seeds planted in March have had mixed results-spinach is coming along slowly, the chard germinated and then was killed off in the bad weather, and the slow bolt cilantro has still not germinated. At this slow rate the spinach is not going to be done in time to make room for the tomatoes later this month. So I may have to pull it out and try to plant it elsewhere. Carrot and lettuce seeds planted in mid April have germinated and are progressing well. The beneficial flowers and herbs planted last month all seem to be doing fine: cosmos, calendula, allysum, dill, bronze fennel.

This week I also added the following annual starts to the raised beds: nasturtium, marigolds, snapdragons, nicotania, and always more allysum. In honor of May Day I planted sunflower seeds-5 varieties that I had success with last year.

p.s. Yes it is still too early to plant outside your tomatoes, basil, peppers, and other heat lovers. Just be patient a few more weeks and focus on the abundance of cool-tolerant plants...Or grow some basil on your kitchen windowsill like I am! :)

Happy May!
Miss Jolie Ann

No comments: