I have to first start off with apologizing for my lengthy absence. As usual the summer can take hold of you in many ways. June rolls along and you realize you haven't quite got your garden organized to be able to fit everything in, then all of a sudden the rabbits descend and you have no choice but to spend hours rabbits proofing your garden. Within a day I lost all my sugar snap peas, 34 sunflowers, 20 corn stalks, countless rows of beets and carrots and much more. Needless to say, each bed has now been fenced off. My garden doesn't exactly look as pretty as I had envisioned in my mind but I have been quick to learn that sometimes you need to just get stuff done and tidy it up later.
When you come home to 3 pleasantly plump bunnies fast asleep in the middle of your garden you stop thinking about how to make it look pretty. You also stop thinking about how cute bunnies are!
As for the remaining survivors we can chat about how things have been doing so far this year. I think for the most part I am not doing terrible as my first time tending to a vegetable garden but I definitely know I have a phobia about thinning out. I just find it so hard to decide which ones to discard! Each packet says like 60cm row widths, well I find that near impossible to do. I'm sure I will find out soon enough that it is necessary and be cursing but you live you learn.
Radishes - WOW! These guys were spicy, but I loved them. I could just sit and eat them from the garden all day. These are definitely the type of plants that do need a bit more thinning out then what I was ready for. A few got squished and never developed. Another mistake I made was, I did a row early and a row a bit later but since I had so many radishes I harvested the second row a bit too late and they were all......woody? I think that's the best description. Almost dried out a bit.
Lettuce - has been going amazing. Since I have a few rows of romaine lettuce I thinned out one to the packet specifics and am just letting the other one run wild a bit, just to see the difference. To make myself feel better I made a salad with what would have been the thinned out bunches.
Onions - I can't believe how well my onions are doing. I planted, multiplier onions, red onions and white onions. An odd observance, the rabbits only came and ate my red onions???
Peas - peas have been doing great, only the sugar snap peas got eaten not the regular snap peas. Unsure if there is a difference here? They are also starting to flower now.
Carrots - All of the carrot crops got taken out by the rabbits. I have a few stragglers I am giving the time to try and come back but it's not looking good. I planted a new row last week but I am afraid I may be a bit to late in the season.
Sunflowers - Same story here. 34 of the 36 got taken by the rabbits. I have re planted a bunch but who knows when they would bloom now.
Beets - I have planted some more after the rabbits took most of them out. Although I have left a few sad looking ones to try and come back.
Bell Peppers - This is one of my crops that I was not able to start from seed (they just never came up) so I went and bought two plants and was able to divide them into another two so I have four. They flowered a couple weeks back and now have nice small little peppers starting on them. I don't have this bed fenced as they rabbits don't seem too interested.
Celery - I started the celery inside and they looked really good. To be honest maybe it's just cause I see them everyday but they don't seem to be doing much outside. They almost seem the same size as a month ago.
Beans - I planted yellow and purple beans, the rabbits got to them too but I re-planted right away so I think I will be fine. The yellow came up much nice then the purple.
Tomatoes - The tomatoes are doing wonderful and it gives me great joy to say this cause I started them inside by myself! I will say I am definitely getting a lesson on sun vs shade and the impact it has on plants. The tomato plants that get the most sun are doing much better then the ones dealing with lengthy shade. My cherry tomatoes are getting their first little tomatoes on them, so exciting!
The straw around my garden beds has really helped with weed control. Although it doesn't even discourage the crazy bamboo type stuff that is literally taking over my entire property.
I planted some giant beets yesterday, you really shouldn't plant them so late. I can't believe it is July already. Next year I think I need to be stricter on myself and spend an entire weekend planting instead of doing it in spurts.
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