Mmmm, veggies

Vegetables grow at an alarming rate - slightly over a week has passed since the previous vegetable related post and it really is a jungle out there now.  It's really amazing what a handful of seeds will turn into.

WOAH

These pictures were taken yesterday...
I'm pretty sure the pumpkins are even bigger today.

Peppers & tomato

Onions, lima beans, green beans, purple beans

Black beans, yellow beans, lettuce, more onions

  

Welcome to the Jungle

Until now the only pictures of the 2012 veggie garden have been really lacking.  Mostly because it was so damn weedy it was hard to see where the real plants were.  Shawn and I were fortunate to have an assistant weeder/rock picker yesterday (who will be rewarded with lots of veggies come harvest time) and things are looking quite marvelous - see for yourself.

Hooray for veggies!

Sweet cherry peppers

Itty bitty sweet cherry peppers

Big guy jalapeno
Supposed to get up to 5"

Peperonici
*These are grown from seeds that I saved from last year's crop!

The seeds I saved for the sweet peppers did not germinate.
So, I bought some seeds and these guys are a bit behind.

Big Mama tomato!

Lima beans

Green beans

Purple beans
*Also grown from seeds saved from last year's crop

Black beans

Yellow beans

Mmm, lettuce

Onions
These are planted around the perimeter of the garden:
Rumor has it bunnies don't like them.

The 2 remaining eggplants

The rogue tomatoes!  I think/hope they are summer salsa - nice, meaty tomato.
If not, they are the supersteak hybrid.  Magic tomatoes that were growing amongst the onions.  Must have been from a tomato that fell on the ground last year & rotted.

Horseradish

Bucket-o-taters

Gardening 101

Way back in February I planted this year's garden.  Inside of course, as February in PA is not exactly the best time to start horticultural endeavors outdoors.  I had leafed through the Burpee catalog numerous times through the winter and had found my DREAM indoor seed starting shelf (multi-levels, adjustable lights) for the low low price of $275.  Ouch.  Shawn took a look at what I was after and decided he could construct something much less expensive and voila!  After a trip to Lowe's I am now the proud owner of this contraption:

Plastic shelving + lights + small chains & hooks  =
SUPERB seedling factory

This cost less than $100 vs. nearly $300 - I'll take this one any day.  It has been working excellent, I was able to keep the lights super low when the seeds were sprouting and raised them as the plants got larger.  Two months into my indoor garden and we've got nice plants that are ready to start the outdoor lifestyle.

Luffa, strawberries, & columbine

Peppers!  The four in the center are actually pepperonici grown from seeds I saved from last year's crop.

Even more peppers also some eggplants and cucumbers.