Giddy Shreiking

Oh, Poor Hubby.

Every day I am dragging him through the garden to show him the progress of my plants, which to him I am sure, looks exactly the same as the day before. But I've put in almost all the seeds I can fit and the bare spots that aren't being used as pathways are in danger of becoming second and third beds of spinach.

It's been a few weeks since I posted my garden update and (to me) so much has sprouted and popped up; it really looks like a garden now.

Calendula (calen-jew-lah) is a pretty flower and has great homeopathic properties. I can't wait to go all apothecary and create little bottles of this and that, like beauty creams and medicines and face masks. Poor, poor, hubby...

The radishes are coming up nicely. Spicy and crunchy. I love these guys. I'm still waiting for the watermelon radishes to get nice and fat, but these fellas are days away from a feast...

I'm hoping I won't need to buy lettuce for the next few months. I'm going to hold off as much as possible, but I do have a lettuce/salad addiction problem I'm hoping my garden will be able to sustain.

The dinosaur kale is getting taller and fuller every day. Soup, kale chips, sautes... I am so excited to see all of this popping up. There were a few bare spots in my kale garden; I think a few of those final snap frosts got to some of the plants. I re-seeded the bare spots and little sprouts are already popping up in their place.

The herbs I sprinkled around in the one area are coming up great. I've got nasturtium and tarragon and genevosa basil bursting out of the ground...

I've got baby grapes. Or barbie grapes. These tiny fellas will turn into Mars grapes. I've also got Venus and Neptune grapes coming in beside this plant.

After initially planting my potatoes under little mounds of soil, in trenches, I started topping them off with straw. These plants are EXPLODING. I'm not sure what to expect with this variety, but my sweet potatoes didn't get half as tall the entire year. I've gone through one bale of straw already and Have a lot longer to go. I couldn't imagine using the traditional dirt method. I'd need a whole truck load just for this one row stretch. I'm looking forward to harvest time with these plants.

Sugar snap peas get taller every day. I've got more planted than last year and hopefully I won't have to get Hubby to bludgeon another groundhog, but I still don't think I planted enough. I'm almost certain I'll be spending hours of my summer sitting on my rock wall, nibbling like a little rodent...

My squashes are popping up. I think I'm going to have way too much. I've got 8ball and limelight and straightneck, all in all a bit more than a dozen plants.

My beans are all popping up. I've got Scarlet runner, Big mama lime, Purple queen and Romano. I love watching these guys push up against the earth. The fat stalks crack the ground days before they actually pop up and you can see the earth being pushed out of the way. It's so fun to watch them emerge.

Who can resist a sunflower larger than a small child? I'm hoping to roast the seeds for salads and spitting. I'll be eating the salads, and Hubby will probably do the spitting. Perfect for softball game nights...

And I have SOOO much more to show, but I think I'll do a part two before you all need to take a coffee break from this lengthy post. I'll leave you with this picture of my dinner last night...

The strawberries, spinach and radishes came from my garden. So YUMMY. Ah, I love fresh, organic produce. And it doesn't get any more local then my back yard. ^_^