A Quick Look at Garden Progress

We planted our seed potatoes about a month ago on a nice February day.  The weather after that day turned for the worst - cold and wet.  It stayed like that for quite a while, too long, actually.  Fortunately, our potatoes are planted on the high side of the garden that has been built up over the years with topsoil, mulch, and compost.  About a week ago I noticed a little bit of green poking up out of the rows. By yesterday most of the potato plants had popped up and shown themselves.  Here's a nice look at a potato plant, green and ready to grow.

Potatoes Popping out of the winter ground

They look very healthy and vigorous.  I'm already thinking about eating green beans with new potatoes cooked in butter.  Slow down, Kyle.  These potatoes won't be ready to harvest until around mid-May.  I'll give them another week or so to grow and then I'll consolidate the rows, digging up plants to replace 'gaps' where the seed potatoes didn't come up for one reason or another.  That gives me more space as space is at a premium in my garden.

Healthy plants ready to grow!

Benjamin and I also planted some 'Droughtproof Wando Peas' that I had that were packaged for the 2009 crop year.  We planted them before all the rains came and I was a little concerned about them for a couple of reasons:

1. First, because the seeds are at least 5 years old.  Some seeds will last forever if stored properly.  In some seeds, the percentage of seeds that successfully germinate drops after each year.
2. Second, the rain can sometimes cause a crust to form on top of the soil that the seedling has a hard time busting through.  As a kid, we had to either rotary hoe or re-plant countless acres of soybeans for this very reason. 

My concerns were for naught, for the most part, because when I looked down the row, I saw a bunch of nice green shoots like this:

Note the tendrils ready to reach out and grab the trellis

Due to potential poor germination, I planted them a little closer than recommended - 1 inch apart as opposed to 1 1/2 inches.  It is a good thing that I did this for I see a few gaps where the peas didn't come up.  I'll take what the Good Lord gives me, though.

The bright Green of Spring

A few more things to look at.  Here is the very last of the winter crop of lettuce.  I'm really not sure the name of this one as it was part of a Mesclun mix of lettuce seeds.  I think it is pretty with a nice green color with red freckles.  We'll toss up a nice salad perhaps this weekend.

Nice head of lettuce

Here is a real show-off in the garden: Swiss Chard.  The big leaves and bright red stems and veins in the leaves make a stark contrast against the brown leaves I have in between the rows and mulching around to suppress weed growth.

Swiss Chard

Some of the Swiss Chard is green with yellow stems.  Chard's nice to look at, but better to eat!

A row of Chard

Speaking of contrasts, Bull's Blood beets are ripening.  Normal beets have dark green leaves, but Bull's Blood beets have dark red leaves, similar to, well, blood.

Bull's Blood Beets

The cabbage, kale, chard, and beets will be all moved out of the garden to make way for the Spring crop, which I'll be putting in over the next two or three weeks.