Rotated plantings, Peas and Lettuce

The four pea plants are finally showing their stuff.

Here's the first one:
Juuuuuuust disregard the weeds showing in the background. We try to get rid of those as often as possible.

Now that is the only pea plant that survived that two weeks of torrential downpour after the initial plantings. It is about a foot tall now and instead of a true trellis we just plopped a tomato cage down for it to climb up. It was planted on or about April 26, emerged from soil on May 3 and was recognizably going to live on May 8 (at least those were posting dates).

I did a second planting when it was clear none others were going to germinate/sprout:
I planted about 10 seeds on May 11, and three of them emerged. You can see here the newspaper mulch (just scroll around on the blog to see about the whole newspaper mulching effort).

So, now I have four pea plants - I really do not think that is going to be enough sugar snap peas!
I have found the greatest garden blog that I must share with readers. Maybelline's Garden - based in Bakersfield, CA. Now, she has some vibrant photos of her pea plants, which in the Bakersfield heat (Zone 9) she has already harvested and thrown into the compost heap.

Taking a note from a proficient gardener, I see it is a good idea to do rotated plantings. Obviously, I do not want to be stuck with bushels and bushels of peas and beans and zucchini and lettuce, etc. etc. all at once, and then have nothing. I will not be able to process or eat all of this, and it will rot, and then we will have nothing. As I layed in bed until 4 a.m. last night, hopped up on cold medicine that had my mind racing (note, don't take Advil Cold and Sinus if you need to sleep), i began devising a plan to donate my bushels of extras to the church or homeless shelter.

So I will plant more peas, and more peas. I will not let them keep me down! I may need to plant more beans, too. We will probably want a second crop. Mister Siren loves his beans. Here they are yesterday, a month after planting:

Anyway, I was thinking about this rotated planting issue back before I planted the lettuces. Especially last year when I had my druthers. But this year, i just plunged ahead. Well, we better be ready to eat some salad.

The mesclun/field greens are going to be ready pretty soon, all at once, and we will be eating daily salads, I think:
We have approximately six Bibb Lettuce plants growing, but these are at different rates, since I did that re-planting on May 11:
While we have 2 advanced arugula seedlings, the rest of the row is from the May 11 replanting, so hopefully that will give us some arugula salads later to mix in with the bibb lettuce, after we are tired of mesclun greens:

If you think the newspaper mulch looks messy, I know. It gets blown around by the wind and is a real pain in the neck. But is really helps with the weeds, let me tell you.

And the sorrel is basically coming up all at once, from the May 11 replanting:

So, anyway, I am devising a plan to rotate in some new crops so that we can have continuous salads, peas, beans, etc. The zucchini should be good producers throughout the season when they finally start bearing fruit. Maybelline's Garden had twelve plants, I definitely don't think we need that many! But I'll report back.

Reflection in Zucchini

You can tell how much the zucchini has grown by looking at the growth of the leaves. Let's take a trip down memory lane together:


Remember back then when i first got the garden planted, a sophomoric novice, and went out in the evenings when i returned from work, so excited to see the results of all my labors . . . and was sooooo wrong about what was coming up? I would go out before i even thought about what should go on the table for dinner, before i did a chore, as soon as i took off my work suit and could put on some flannels and a blazer, and went out and got on my hands and knees in the dirt, nose about two inches from the ground, sniffing, loving it.

Mmmmmmm. Dirt. There is something about being so close to the earth, in your own backyard, after a long day at work, that washes away whatever happened there.

Enough of that. So - getting back to our trip down memory lane, when i first began, a bright-eyed bushy-tailed novice a couple of months ago, I thought those gross viney things were for sure the zucchini coming up. No, they were not. They are these awful root-like vines underneath the soil which produce A LOT of weeds. They are pervasive.

Then the zucchini appeared:
This represents three plants. I planted three seeds in each hole, the holes were 18 inches apart. They grew steadily and surely. There are two little leaves poking out of each plant.

Then, all of a sudden, a third, very recognizable squash-like leaf appeared.

When they got this big, I had to thin it to two plants per 18 inches.

Very quickly, a fourth leaf appeared, of the same squash-like variety.
The above photo is of a very dirty plant, which is how the plants look after it rains all day. (a frequent occurrence)

A fifth leaf appeared, then got bigger (see below photos:)

According to a gardening site, I can expect about 11 more leaves before I see flowering and actual squash:

Tending the Plants

Zucchinis usually grow at least 15 leaves before flowering. Often the first flowers are male and will not produce fruit. A female flower has a small swelling at its base, while a male flower does not. If desired, pick male flowers for eating.

Even better!

The zucchini is really coming up now, I am basically jumping for joy. Mister Siren came out and took some great photos in the garden on Saturday and then we took some more today. The problem is only that it has been raining for five days straight. I am getting worried that this garden is not getting enough sun. I think it needs at least 6 hours a day. The basil, dill, and cilantro are not appearing and they are probably too soaked and need more sun. In addition, if the water does not have time to burn off, the tomato plants will develop fungus (I think.)

The Zucchini seedlings on Saturday:



And today, Sunday:


Here are what the beans are looking like (really cute!):

Saturday, just poking out their wee heads:


And Sunday, totally showing their stuff!


Also making a showing were the beautiful mesclun greens in a row:



And I think these are the sugar snap peas, but won't be able to tell for a few more days, i guess:




My grandma told me to put down newspaper as mulch, and I was meaning to do this this weekend, but it rained all day! I need to do this, because the weeds are REALLY proliferating! Photos of weeds will be up soon for your viewing pleasure.