quick pic update

It is hot hot hot in Massachusetts right now. The garden has been growing well for the most part. The strawberry harvest in June topped out around 20 pounds, and the second crop is starting up any day now. I am wondering if squash are just not going to work in this location with the squash vine borer problem. I have killed several adult moths, and kept my squash under row covers as long as I could, but I am sure that since I've seen the adults that the borers are on their way. Hopefully we will get at least a few squash before they take over. The peas and beans did well and there are hundreds of tomatoes just waiting to ripen.

snow peas growing

It is amusing to see peppers growing on my miniscule plants!

Chamomile

8 ball squash! I hope the SVB stay away for awhile!

Some purple beans, snow peas, and blueberries!

variety

A little about what I'm going to attempt to grow this year:

beans {purple bush, cranberry}
blueberries (bluecrop, bluejay, elliott)
carrots
corn {rainbow, strawberry popcorn}
herbs {lemon balm, lemon basil, catnip, oregano, spearmint, sweet basil, tarragon}
lettuce (some mix of red and green romaine, tango, red leaf, butterhead)
parsinps
peppers {red sweet, bell}
romanesco
squash {white scallop, butternut, pumpkin, round green}
strawberries (everbearing, 2 varieties, wild yellow, perhaps june bearers)
tomatillos {verde, purple, dr. wyche's yellow}
tomatoes {roma, yellow cherry, red cherry, nebraska wedding, kellogg's breakfast, bison red,

For reference, I am in zone 6, near enough to zone 5 that I consider us to be in zone 5. I thought I would share a few pictures of the seedlings in their current state:

wild strawberries

roma tomato

sweet red pepper

tomatillo verde

Some parsnips, carrots, snow peas, and lettuce seeds went into the garden beds on Friday so hopefully they will sprout over the next few weeks.

Seed starting!

I'm very excited to say that we started our first batch of seeds! In spring of 2010, seeds were started six weeks before transplant, but I thought it might mean tomatoes sooner if started earlier this year. I will probably do succession seedlings as a backup in case these don't pan out, but in the meantime gardening season 2011 has begun.  Tomatoes, tomatillos, and romanesco have all sprouted.  Waiting on the wild yellow strawberries, but not holding my breath. I may try again with those soon. Peppers were started today. Here are some romanesco the day they came out.

romanesco day 1

This year I used coconut fiber pellets for initial seed starting. The kids love expanding them, and they are easy to deal with before transplanting to larger containers. It might mean more work in the long run, but the seedlings seem to love to sprout in the germination station, and you can't beat the entertainment level for the kids. The heat mat helps, I'm sure, as does the south facing window.

romanesco day 5

We belong to a local CSA and received a good number of cranberry beans in last year's share, so I saved the last batch to see if I could grow some as well. I wasn't sure how well they would do, so I tested a batch in a wet towel and they all sprouted.

cranberry bean sprouts

This means I will be direct sowing some cranberry beans in a few months, once I find a spot for them. The tomatoes are also looking happy so far.

tomato seedlings

That's about it for now. I am working on the garden layout plans still but will hopefully be able to share those soon.