More Doing Than Writing!

I've had 'update garden blog' on my to-do list for a while now, and can't believe it's been almost a month. I've been out in the garden several times each week, though, so at least I have a good excuse. I now have a few dozen assorted tomatoes and peppers and an eggplant or two that I started last month, all transplanted to 4-inch pots (and in some cases, 2-liter soda bottle 'pots', to build a nice deep root structure). I have space for maybe 9 tomato plants, of course, and possibly a dozen pepper plants (or 10 and a couple of eggplants), so this will be entertaining. I've already given away my first tomato seedling, a tiny Tigerella destined for a container on a sunny patio. My seedlings are now on a plastic shelf with copper tape around the shelf legs, as That Which Chomps in the Night has topped off two Super Shepherd Frying Pepper seedlings and a Jimmy Nardello. Curses!

Radishes are coming up, early peas are blooming and second set of peas are about a foot high. I've got some scarlet runner beans starting in six-packs in the greenhouse, but I'm worried that they haven't sprouted yet and it's been over a week. Tiny, hair-thin scallion and carrot leaves are up in the salad bed, as well as cute dime-sized mesclun leaves and the beginnings of beets and chard. We're getting broccoli side-shoots from the de Cicco broccoli, but had only one small head from the lone romanesco broccoli. I'm thinking of sowing a second broccoli crop, but need to check into the temperatures first-- will it stay cool enough long enough? What *is* cool enough? This is the first time I've grown broccoli.

The garden to-do list is *enormous*-- will try to take some pix and post them soon, in between all the other stuff. Need to start my leeks, cucumbers (mini-pickle and mediterranean), some basil (lemon and genovese), daikon, shiso, start melons in the greenhouse, get kabocha and summer squash started in the greenhouse, transplant the cukes and the spaghetti squash that I purchased in a weak moment :-) and pot the new rose geranium that I found amidst all the boring unscented geraniums. I also need to transplant a 6-pak of alyssum, transplant what's LEFT of the two delphiniums in 4-inch pots (snail victims), etc. I transplanted all the big self-seeded zinnias from the corner of the garden where we're moving the greenhouse onto, only to find this week that the snails have eaten them down to leaf ribs. I will have to start making flashlight rounds vs the snails.