Today we put most of the front garden in. From left to right: Tomatoes/Golden chard in the first bed; Chile Peppers/Beets in the second bed; Eggplant/2 Okras/Radishes/Carrots in the third bed.

Chris and I are on the path to becomming “gardeners.” There’s not much to be done right now though: we’re just starting to see lots of little sprouts; we’re still hardening off the tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers; the raised beds have nearly eliminated the weeds (I know, they’ll come back in a few weeks – but not yet!)… so we’ve been reading a lot about all of our different kinds of vegetables, hoping that some knowledge will sink in and stay put. I found a Horticulture Fact Sheet webpage (on the Ohio State University Extension Service website) that has some pretty good articles about growing tons of different vegetables in home gardens. We’re not in Ohio, and it isn’t terribly detailed, but it’s a nice quick reference.

On the down side, I think we are going to lose a few tomatoes. (We already lost three). They spent a bit too much time in nutrient-deficient soil (the addition of some Epsom salt really helped bring a few back to life, though), and some of them were not draining well and the roots started rotting. BUT… Chris and I counted last night, and there are 20 “definite winner” tomato plants – not too bad at all.

We planted the beans today: Royalty Purple Podded Snap Bush Bean, Tendergreen Bush Bean, Blue Lake 274 Garden Bean, and Blue Lake Stringless Garden Bean (the last two are a couple of organic hybrids I had from last year). We ordered most of our seeds this year from Seeds of Change, but I’ve found that the packs are a bit skimpy.

I put this together out of some extra boards I had laying around in the garage. I planted buttercup squash just at the end of the trellis (on the left side, from this angle).

This is exciting: we started ALL of our vegetable plants from seeds this year. This is the lot of the starters: tons of tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, a couple okra, and a few broccoli. There are also some grapefruit trees, papaya trees, and medjool date trees mixed into the lot.

You can’t see them, but they’re in there. From left to right, in the very front of each three beds, we planted Golden Chard, Chioggia Beets, and Royal Chantenay Carrots.

This took some work. Lawn soil is very, very compacted. We tilled peat moss, organic top soil (because I dug it all up with the grass), and manure into the area, and then I made the beds all by myself. They are wider than the beds in the back, and I hope they will work well for vegetables!

My great aunt has been receiving packages of carrot seeds in the mail from one of those organizations that fight hunger in impoverished lands. She has been sending the carrot seeds to me, so we planted them in the back yesterday. I think she has finally started returning the carrots and telling them to teach the hungry people to plant their own seeds.

I also planted Shiraz Tall Top beets in the back, and a whole ton of yellow onion sets.