How Does Your Garden Grow?

Well enough to keep me from working on my other projects right now.

School is almost out and I've been super busy trying to get things done that will be harder once the kiddos are home.  Between that, a spring cold that knocked me on my rear for several days, and garden chores, I've honestly not had the time, or the inclination to sit down and write a blog entry.  

However, today the skies are darkening, threatening rain, keeping me inside and blog guilt has gotten to me.  So, here's an update on my garden.

As a reminder, here's my garden  in mid April.  

And here it is on May 9th.

And here it is today.

The first produce from the garden came from this tiny little 1'x 2' rectangle planted with assorted Greens.  I harvest just the outer leaves as they mature, leaving the inner leaves to grow.  So far, we've gotten about half a dozen family sized salads from it.  

Since it's really starting to warm up here I know it's days are numbered.  I'm planning for Cucumbers to follow the Greens.  So, I pulled up enough of the Greens to  make way for the seeds and cut the rest of the greens to soil level.  Apparently, not all of them are ready to call it quits and I may get one last harvest.

Spinach is the second thing the garden has yielded.  I've gotten 2 good harvests out of it so far.  Like the other greens, it want's to bolt and is trying to send up flower stalks, which I've been pinching off.  

Since it's days are also numbered, I went ahead and planted Bush Beans between the existing plants.  I figure the Spinach leaves will act as a canopy to shade the soil and keep it from dying out too quickly giving the seeds a better chance to sprout.

  

To extend the greens harvest, I have two other small sections in the garden, that will be ready to harvest this week.  I also decided to start a couple of pots which will live on our cooler and more shaded porch in the hopes of getting a much later harvest.

Another thing I've done is to plant Soybeans between my Sunflowers, now that the Sunflowers are about 4 ft tall.  I'm growing a Mammoth variety that should reach 12 ft.  As they grow taller, I'll strip off the lowest leaves to allow sun to reach the soy beans in what would otherwise be wasted space.  

How is your garden growing?

I'd love to know.

Leave me a comment and let me know what your growing, and how it's doing.  

Do you have any super clever tips or tricks?

If so, share those in a comment too.