Vegetable Gardening

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Lots of blended or mesclun lettuce seed mixes are intended to be cut-and-come-again. Once it's over 2" tall just start giving it haircuts and using the longer tender leaf tops- it'll keep growing! Just don't cut it too close to the ground so that it can't recover.
Swiss chard is slightly different- don't give it a 'haircut' but rather cut and use the whole outer leaves as often as you like, even when small and tender.

[Brandi]

you don't pluck lettuce? You cut it?

[hebe]

I have potatoes, radishes, carrots and spring onions in tubs outside, all are coming through now except the spring onions. I have mint, basil, coriander and parsley inside on the kitchen windowsill. The Mister has promised me raissed beds if I can find someone to build them (he is open to the idea of less lawn to mow).

I love the vertical garden!

[Blueberry]

I have potatoes, radishes, carrots and spring onions in tubs outside, all are coming through now except the spring onions. I have mint, basil, coriander and parsley inside on the kitchen windowsill. The Mister has promised me raissed beds if I can find someone to build them (he is open to the idea of less lawn to mow).

I love the vertical garden!

You could also look at these. They may not be pretty, but they're fairly cost effective (when I priced them against lumber) and they definitely work. They're easy to put together - particularly the 3x3's.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

you don't pluck lettuce? You cut it?

You can't really cut head lettuce and have it grow a new head, so you harvest the whole head and that's it.
Leaf lettuce will continue putting up new leaves if you either cut off whole outer leaves or give the whole plant a little haircut and take maybe the top half.

All lettuce tends to get bitter as it gets older, so it;s good to keep planting seed at intervals and discard the older lettuce plants once they get spindly and send up flower stalks, if you haven't used them already. Lettuce is best when young, sweet, and tender. Never sow lettuce seeds all at once.

[Brandi]

You can't really cut head lettuce and have it grow a new head, so you harvest the whole head and that's it.
Leaf lettuce will continue putting up new leaves if you either cut off whole outer leaves or give the whole plant a little haircut and take maybe the top half.

All lettuce tends to get bitter as it gets older, so it;s good to keep planting seed at intervals and discard the older lettuce plants once they get spindly and send up flower stalks, if you haven't used them already. Lettuce is best when young, sweet, and tender. Never sow lettuce seeds all at once.

So head lettuce you mean like ice berg? Most of my little lettuce is red leaf, butter, romaine (I think) and a frilly green one. It was a 6 pack. I should try the seeds. I have them in containers because the snails are so bad here. right now they are all about 3 inches tall and looking very pretty.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

My 10 little baby blueberry bushes that we planted last Spring are flowering for the first time, and I can see some baby blueberries forming! Our first blueberries, so exciting! Looks like we might get a few dozen. (And yes, I already bought some excellent bird netting that we'll put on just before the berries start turning blue)

Got the 13 tomato plants in. Planted the cucumbers and the bush beans too.

Salad-wise, we are already harvesting lots of lettuce, bok choy, kale, spinach, scallions, and radishes.

[Reesha]

I was just outside in the rain planting 30 radicchio plants. I find that managing the garden at school keeps me much more on track than if I tried to do it at home. I like gardening for the cafeteria and we also sell to my friend's restaurant. It keeps me on my gardening toes!

The tomato plants we planted a few weeks back still don't seem to be taking, but there are a number of plants I kept under the grow lights inside that are much heartier and will probably succeed with more oomph when I plant them out there.

I started the carrots from seed and they seem like really slow starters-- then again, this is the first time I've ever grown carrots. The seedlings were extra tiny for weeks and weeks and now they are just starting to increase in size. It could be a function of the clayey Missouri soil... I have a mind to make two new raised beds with a sandier peatier soil exclusively for carrots and other root veggies that like things loose and limber.

The zucchini is ridiculous right now-- if I can keep the ants away, I'm going to have loads of it to sell! But the crookneck squash is having a tough time adapting to the outdoors after being started inside. We'll have to see.

Now if I could just keep the squirrels from eating my cucumber seedlings straight away, I'll be a happy woman!

Some pictures!

English pea trellis:


The garden prior to planting this March:


I'll try to get some current pictures up soon!

[tulip]

Nice, Reesha!

Here are some of my recent photos. I harvested a bunch of sweet peas this morning. Mmmm. My tomatoes are about 3-feet tall and producing fruit, and my potatoes have started to bloom. Lots of lettuce and kale still, too.