Thanks! I keep waiting for a mama duck to bring over any babies.

Is that a modified version of Mel's Square Foot Gardening? I sure wish I could grow a garden. I don't know what to do with myself - I love growing stuff but I absolutely suck at it.

No but I wish I had thought to put some vermiculite or perlite into the mix before starting. That just makes sense. Well let's see what happens.

Anyone can prob'ly grow a container tomato plant. Get a big ol pot, a bag of potting soil enough to fill it, and a tomato plant that is "determinate", ie, grows to a certain size, which is better for container growing. Some of the tomato plants are even called "bush" as they grow into a bush size, determinate. And then after two months of growing, when you want a tomato, just go pick one.

On schedule, the carrots poke out. Nasty weed fights for dominance... and lost, five seconds after this shot.

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Growing from plants is more expensive but you do get early results. The first pepper is here, and probably angry about the cold, wet weather.

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And the first tomato even shows, from the varietal called "Early Girl". It's meant to be your first crop. The vines are about 2 weeks away from needing support.

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Over here is the newly-planted flower garden, J's section, featuring Asiatic lilies and sunflowers. The sunflowers are the mopey stalky things. We hope they come back. Some of them are standing.

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Aha! This ties back into one of my mystery garden questions -- the asiatic lilies look a bit like one of my mystery weeds (but without flowers, natch). Thanks!

Nice, T. Your tomatoes are much happier than mine. Of course, yours aren't sitting in 3 inches of water for the last 2 weeks, either, so that might explain something. Still, great job on your growing stuff!

I just came in from the garden. Got tons of lettuce, a little spinach (now done for the year and all yanked out), a bunch of peas, about a pint of strawberries (what I get about every other day). Yanked weeds and fed 'em to the chickens. They love weeds!

My perennials and herbs are doing well too, though that front bed is very weedy too. I just don't feel like doing it tonight.

The rain around here has been simply ideal for the early plants. The difference from ten days ago is stunning.

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Carrots await thinning.

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Basil starts up. Even at this point, if you pull a leaf and crush it in your hand, it smells like basil.

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That pepper! And cool: in the background, lower right, you can see how easy it is to grow herbs. It's dill, in an area previously planted with dill... and then completely dug out and had 5 inches of rich soil dumped on top of it. Another patch of dill has been started, but this hardy single survivor is a testament. Can't kill dill!

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Tomatoes are coming out, and the vines will be staked tomorrow.

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And the sunflowers, which seemed to wimpy to survive, all pretty much did survive and have developed secondary leaves.

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I need to get some herbs going. When I get back from Arizona. Which will be in July. *sob*

Dang UT, you've a good harvest shaping up. I just got my first digi camera...yes I am slow. Here's the back fire pit and the small veggie patch. Tomatoes, lettuces, kale, peppers, cabbage, and herbs. lots of shade to contend with. You can see by the brown grass its been very dry this year. I'll water veggies, but not grass.

more pics: a shady garden, the recycled paving, lettuces and mama cardinal hanging out by the veggies. She is tucked into a vine covered fence sitting on two eggs....
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UT. Rain! What's that. None around here in weeks and none in forecast. Sucks. Heat index around 97 today.

Rain keeps going, everything has gone nuts! An early cucumber appears. Now it's time for the sun to come a ripen it all.

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Do you ever eat the squash blossoms?
You gonna make pesto or just lotsa caprese?

Someone on my home school list is giving away their strawberry plants... I'm thinking of going and getting some tomorrow if Jim will help. We gave up on our garden though so I don't even know where I'd put them...

I love the pesto. It's impossible not to grow too much basil.

It had never occurred to me to eat squash blossoms. Have you?