Every year I think about how helpful it would have been if I'd kept track of when I planted everything the previous year, so this is the year that I'm going to take my own advice and keep that log.
April 6, 2013 (indoors) - NEXT YEAR, START EGGPLANT/BROCCOLI/CAULIFLOWER EARLIER
Eggplant
Tomatoes
Cauliflower (purple, yellow)
Romanesco broccoli
Broccoli blend
Fennel
Basil
Zinnias
Chinese lantern flowers (total duds - it took 3 weeks for anything to germinate, and as of now, I have two puny plants)
Marigolds
Nasturtiums
April 29, 2013 (indoors) - NEXT YEAR, GET THE BRUSSELS SPROUTS STARTED EARLIER
Brussels sprouts
Second round of Chinese lantern flowers (still duds, no germination yet)
Morning glories
April 20, 2013 (direct seeding)
Shelling peas
Snap peas
Space spinach
Radishes
Harukei turnips
Chioggia and golden beets
Kale
Shallots
Scallions
April 27, 2013 (direct seeding)
Carrots
Parsnips
Potatoes
Fennel (direct seeded)
Lettuce
More beets
Kohlrabi
Strawberry spinach (never germinated)
May 4, 2013 (indoors)
Melons
May 21, 2013
Moved the eggplant, tomatoes, basil, fennel, and flowers out to the cold frame to harden off (then it rained and was cold all week and the cold frames didn't open for six days...)
May 27, 2013 (direct seeding)
Winter squash (sweet mama, nutty delica, and Uncle David's Dakota)
Cucumbers
Bush beans
Pole beans
Edamame
More beets, lettuce, and harukei turnips
More kale
Swiss chard
Pattypan squash
Purple basil (direct seed)
As noted above, next year I need to start my indoor seeds earlier. The tomatoes, fennel, flowers, and basil are fine timewise, and eggplant is borderline big enough to go out, but the brussels sprouts, broccoli, and cauliflower are all puny and not at all ready for the big garden beds. I have to say, I'm finding it much more difficult than I anticipated to get cauliflower going from seed. If the plants don't take off this year, I may take a break from trying to do them again next year. My poor seedlings look absolutely pathetic, and I don't have high hopes that they'll make it.
In terms of garden productivity, my rhubarb plants are thriving, and I did my first big harvest this weekend. I cut four pounds, mostly just to try to make a little room for the poor crowded out strawberry plants. This weekend I'd like to make some strawberry rhubarb and blueberry rhubarb jams, and I am very tempted to make rhubeena and learn how to use that in tasty summer cocktails. This past weekend we had our first salad with our own arugula, chives, and tiny radishes - by far the earliest that we've had a real harvest. Soon the mesclun lettuce will be ready, too, and the first planting of harukei turnips should also be ready to harvest within the next couple of weeks.
We have to figure out a better way to make the floating row covers work. They are already shredding, and the only way to keep them intact seems to be not to move them at all, which of course makes weeding a bit of a challenge. I haven't hilled the potatoes yet, which are HUGE, solely because I don't want to touch the row covers and risk yet another infestation of my nemeses, the potato bugs. I think that if we weight the row covers down rather than attaching them to the beds/anchors, that should work better, but that also means we need wider fabric, so I've got to track that down.
