Its May 1st in Maine and I'm growing....

• Its only May 1st here in southwestern Maine and already I have crops in my plots. I'm so thrilled, this being only my 2nd year.
  With the use of an A-frame I built and heavy row cover on the nites that drop down to the low and mid 30s, I have made inroads with an early garden.
  
  This is a view of my brassicas so far. I have cabbages, Super Red 80s in the first one, then Broccoli and the furthest one is cauliflower.
  
  
  This is my little plot of Alpine strawberries, mulched and happy to blossom in the bright sunshine we had today, reaching a very unusual 80 with 55 expected tonite.
  
  
  A closeup of one of my Broccoli, doing well.
  
  
  A closeup of one of my Super Red 80 cabbages. We've had such high gusty winds yesterday and last nite, that some of those lovely large leaves have been broken by the winds. I hope they don't suffer much. setbackrl=https://servimg.com/view/15016226/66][/url]
  The sugar snap peas are doing well in the 1st square. Two other squares are planted with some just germinating and the last block not pushing up yet.
  
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  My buttercrunch lettuces are doing well with the younger Crispino lettuce beside it.
  
  
  A closeup of the Bright Lights Swiss chard that is doing very well.
  
  
  Here's a closeup of one of the Quinalt strawberries I planted last year. Its already blossoming along with several others. These are the mother plants this year. I chose the matted row system so next year I'll remove the mothers and the strong runners will take their place. These are in a mounded bed since I had lots of garden loam left over when I started my beds last spring.
  
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  In this bed are some spinach on the left and the lettuces in the middle. The cans are an experiment. I poked holes in the bottoms and buried them close to the rim, filled them with composted manure and water. I hope that every time it rains these cans will feed my crops. They are in the center of spinach seeds I planted.
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  This is a long view of most of the garden with my A-frame in the background and my strawberry bed composted and mulched and lined with solar lights. Some of my beds are just mounded, and not protected by lumber. They are working fine for now.
  
  
  Here's my garden under row cover a couple of evenings ago when we were having nites in the low to mid 30s. It protects to 28 degrees so I was safe. I just rolled the row cover out of the way during the day.
  
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  I made hoops out of wire coat hangers and clothespins to hold the shade cover when I first planted my tomatoes, and heavy row cover for the cold nites. It worked like a charm. I also put hoops over the lettuces when they were first planted and they came thru just fine.
  
• This Square Foot Gardening is the best thing I've done in years. I keep experimenting and learning all the time. I hope to have lots of early crops this year and then put in fall crops for a bonanza of food for my family. Then I will try learning to save seed for next year and freezing produce to eat during the winter months. I'm really happy about my raised bed garden.
  
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• I have tomatoes still under my grow lights now in 4" air-pruning pots I made from 2-liter soda bottles. This is a first time for me starting my own seeds and I've enjoyed it. I now have 2 shop lights that are 4 feet long and my original grow light system that is only 2 feet long. Plenty of lights for what I'm attempting.
  
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• Here are my other mounded beds for cucumbers, squash and a couple of melons. I'll be covering them with brown plastic mulch soon to heat up the soil for planting those crops.
  
• I have, to date, planted Mesclun mix, lettuce, radishes (of which I've already been harvesting), chives, parsnips, Oregon Spring tomatoes which are ultra early and can take the cold, spinach, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, marigold and nasturtiums to repel bugs, scallions, carrots, parsley, basil, rosemary, lemon balm, and sugar snap peas.
  
• For those of you just starting out, I was brand new to this last spring and got a late start. Its been a learning experience but a wonderful one, and at my retired age, its been a feasible method for me.
  
• Try it, you'll like it!
  
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Kelejan wrote: mimi2 from Ontario  

from Kelejan  
come on over to the Canadian Region where you can meet other Canadians.  This does not stop you from reading or posting in any other post what-so-ever that takes your fancy.