Spring 2014 Garden Diary, Post 14

 It's been so nice out in the garden every morning.  I've repaired all the damage, and tomorrow I'm planting the final replacement seeds.  The cucumbers I planted are Marketmore 76, a general salad cuc with a climbing habit.

These Litchi Tomato (or Morelle de Balbis) plants are looking very ferocious!  This plant has spikes on every single surface, including the leaves, which are lines with barbs.  Yes, it hurts -- not touching it again! According to the write up, the berries taste like a cross between a cherry and a tomato....hope we get a chance to try them.

 The pole beans on the Bean Haus are starting to show tendrils reaching for the wire. 

 The castor bean plants are looking good - but not very tall.  I don't think this soil is the best for them. We'll see how big they get.

 Get a load of this avocado plant that I started last year from seed!  I'm just amazed at how well its done -- this winter I thought it had died in the greenhouse, but it started sprouting and growing.

 Here's the large red cherry tomato -- lots of tomatoes on it.  

 The elderberries that we planted last year are all looking great, two each of Adams and York.  I'm not sure what to look for on these, so far no blossoms, although what I've read say that they don't produce until 2 to 3 years old.  Now they are just growing and several new plants coming up in each bed from the roots.  It's going to be interesting to see what these turn out to be like.

 This is the Better Boy tomato.  Only one so far. 

 The snow peas are starting to dry from the bottom up...the bottom 1/4 of the plants are completely dried out.  But the plants are producing.  I'm not that in love with the Golden Snow Peas -- they're small and they are twisting up in all kinds of shapes. I could be my soil, of the quickly warming weather. They taste great, just not as pretty as I would like.  The green peas are much nicer shape.

 The Sugar Snap Peas look great and are just now starting to show up.

Tonight I brought in some of the Vulcan Swiss Chard that I planted this year, and some of the Luculus Chard that's been growing all winter in a pot!  These plants are just super producers, and they need a good thinning out quite often.  I really love chard, its so mild and delicious - a great way to get your greens.

There's a few of the snow peas and a few tomatoes that have started turning.  I'll put them on the window sill until they are totally ripe.

 Pretty veins in the Vulcan chard.

 I'm taking my brother's advice and making manure tea to give all of my plants a boost! He told me that's his secret (hope he's not upset that I just gabbed about it here...)

I was buying a few more flower plants the other day at Rainbow Gardens and walked by this stone tablet....I really needed this sentiment since I've been down about all the mini-tragedies our garden has had this year.  It helped give me new purpose!!