We are in a transition period in our gardening season — the early season crops are just about done, and we’ve made room for the mid-season crops. We’ve eaten the last of our spinach, broccoli, cauliflower and lettuces, and now we’re anticipating tomatoes, peppers, squash and green beans. Here’s a look at how the garden is coming along in late May: As a reminder, here’s where we started a month ago. This was our first planting in the raised bed, which included seedlings of tomatoes (four varieties) and peppers (two varieties), as well as seeds of edamame, okra, cucumber, melon, squash, zucchini, onions and carrots. This may sound like a lot, but remember that we’re urban farmers, and we’re employing intensive gardening techniques, which means we’re using every inch of our limited space to maximize our harvest.
Our first planting in the raised bed.
And here’s how the plants are coming along a month later…
Okra is the first to sprout:
Okra sprouts.
With edamame not far behind:
Edamame sprouts.
Squash and zucchini have pushed up their first leaves:
First signs of squash.
And green beans have popped up:
Green bean sprouts.
Our tomatoes have begun to flower…
Grape tomatoes are flowering, which means fruit is not long off.
And one of our varieties (a compact container tomato) already has tiny green fruits:
Early container tomatoes.
One of our pepper plants has a small greenish fruit:
Early pepper flowers and a small fruit.
And our herbs continue to be bountiful… we’ve been enjoying our basil, cilantro, rosemary and thyme in the kitchen, though we still haven’t figured out what to do with the stevia.
Cilantro is flourishing. I know this won’t last for long once the weather gets hot, so we’re enjoying it while it lasts.
Our stevia, which looks and tastes great, though we’re still not sure how to cook with it.
And finally, Chip continues to pilfer our strawberries. At least someone is enjoying them…
He actually looks like he’s rubbing his hands together mischievously as he anticipates his strawberry dinner.
Our weather has been supportive, so with more of the regular rain and moderate temperatures, I’m hoping for some good growth over the next few weeks.