First Harvest!

Tonight, I harvested 6 Easter Egg Radishes! Yum! I have picked another two, each at different times, but this was the first "big" bunch.

We received a UPS shipment from Raintree Nursery today. 1 Munstead Lavender, 1 Rosemary, 1 highbush cranberry, 1 rugosa rose, 2 hardy bamboo plants. Unfortunately, the horseradish we ordered was not available because of a mold problem. I guess even the professionals are faced with unfortunate mishaps along the way.

Update

Most of the plants appear to be recovering. It will set them back, sadly, but they are doing OK. There are a few that will need to be replaced, and I have some extras I potted, so we won't have to buy plants to replace them.

I want to dig a new bed to plant popping sorghum this week.

Also planting the last of our flower seeds and will plant some more carrots and radishes and another flat of container salad greens

Stupid Garden Mistakes You Don't Want to Make

Seriously. It was cold and rainy and yucky the week after Mother's Day. Finally, on Friday, the sun came out. I put the seedlings out for a few (very mild) days (and nights), and didn't even think about the fact that that might not be enough to harden them off. Saturday, I spent the entire day outside, mowing the lawn in addition to getting all the plants in the ground. My focus, actually, was getting them into the ground because they were starting to look iffy in their cups and such, and I was concerned that after all the time babying them that they were going to die just because we hadn't put them in the ground in time.

This was our first time raising seedlings. Well, actually our second, but the first time, Killian was born right when they needed to go in the ground (on May 10, Mother's Day, actually). Recovering from his birth and caring for our first baby was an undertaking that enveloped us fully that spring, LOL. So, the seedlings didn't fare so well.

Unfortunately, the current seedlings aren't faring so well, either, despite going into the ground. They are all looking pretty sad. Some worse than others. I am hopeful that today's rain will give them a boost.

Planting!

Lots and lots of planting! Most of our plants are in, and I've potted our leftovers hoping to give them a bit longer so that hopefully we can share them with someone who will use them.

I also have seeds that still need planting, and I am slowly getting those done (after the long haul planting on Saturday).

We have about 15 self-watering containers now, 6 or 7 of which we put together on Sunday. We did about 3 1 gallon containers, which are good for smaller pepper (Thai peppers and/or jalepenos) plants and basil (they would also be good for other things too, but we are using them for these).

Our other containers are in the 5 gallon range, some a bit smaller (they are made from bakery/icing buckets, and not all of them are a full five gallons). Many of them are labeled by weight, and so I haven't figured out exactly what they hold volume-wise. ;)

In our bigger containers:

cherry tomatoes

Minnesota Midget melons

Alibi cukes

Muncher cukes

Mexican Gherkins

peppers

Basil (regular and purple ruffle)

There was a labeling snafu with the peppers, and I have no clue what's what, so we're in for a surprise later....

Last year, we did strawberries, tomatoes, and basil in the containers, so we are trying some new things this year. Because the cukes are space-hogs, I am curious to see how these work.

Reclaimed craft project!

It is cold and gray here today. I have plants ready to go into the ground, but we're holding off a little longer for fear of frost. Today, I found a cute idea online for a welcome sign. I went out to my garage and came across a ratty piece of wood that was perfect for this purpose. It really is not something usable as lumber anymore, and it is a wonder that in the nearly eight years we've lived here that we did not just toss it out or burn it, but now I am glad we did not!