Oh the excitement of it all....

Not only have my things sprouted, but many now have their first "real" leaves.. I have leaves on bulls blood beets, detroit beets, chiogga beets, spinach, many real leaves on peas, all my white and red onions have sprouted.. I've got real leaves on chard and radishes. I don't have any sprouts at all yet from carrots and parsnips or turnips. The garlic I planted for the first time last fall all have stalks at least 1 inch thick. More of my strawberries survived then I thought, and I have a very healthy growth of catnip and summer savory going.

My poor neighbor, who has a traditional garden, does not "get" my gardening methods and can barely stand not nosing. She thought I was wacked the day she caught me out planting onions, peas, and spinach.(it snowed within the hour) Today, I was planting another square of carrots so she had to find out what I was growing.. and how the rest of the stuff was doing.

This will be the first year I do much vertical growing... last year I did tomatoes, which really are not that much of a feat. But this year I am hoping to have vines with hanging cantaloupe, watermelon, pumpkins, and butternut squash.. I am sure those will cause her some true concern! LOL.

I had a few brussel sprouts out that had not done much last year, but now started growing.. but the sprouts were yellowing and the plants looked like they were going to flower.. so I figured they were just going to flower and seed... I pulled them out to use their squares.

I have several other beds I establish haphazzardly last year, and now am going to move and expand them.. it has been a wet spring so far, so I am hoping to get that done by May 15 so I can get my summer crops underway.

And, while digging through the attic, I found my OLD copy of square foot gardening... how very much this has changed! But there is still a tremendous amount of useful info in there.

Ok, I will quit ramblling, but most people I know just think I am bit over the edge with my enthusiasm for my garden. On other hand, somone dropped into my office the other day just because they heard I grew vertically and wanted to chat about it.

I'M SO EXCITED, AND I JUST CAN'T HIDE IT!!! LOL.

And to top it off, my compost pile is HOT for the first time EVER! I almost just jumped up and down.. i went out to gather some grass clippings and brown leaves for my compost drum (the construction of which caused a concussion. LOL) and found my one compost bin is HOT! And I didn't even try that one!

blondie,

What a great time for you. All those little plants just getting their true leaves. Amazing.

Vertical growing is such a space saver and with the SFG system so productive. It's great that someone stopped by just to find out more about vertical gardening. I also am trying vertical gardening for more than peas and beans. I am looking forward to my "vining" zucchini this year.

Your neighbor is going to go nuts, once she sees everything going up too.

Congratulations on your booming garden and your HOT compost. Your enthusiasm is wonderful.

Keep us posted!

That sounds AWESOME! How exciting for you!! Seeing your garden growing is such a rush. And so cool that the neighbour is nosy and thinks you are crazy. Work it baby! I work hard at making people think I am crazy. Life is too short for normal.

Hot compost is so fantastic. Keep turning it and it will continue to heat up. Just for fun get a thermometer out and see how hot you can get it.

Gwynn

itsablondething wrote:I'M SO EXCITED, AND I JUST CAN'T HIDE IT!!!

I'M ABOUT TO LOSE CONTROL AND I THINK I LIKE IT!!!





C'mon, y'all. That was as easy as Bump, Set, SPIKE!

I'm excited for you, too, blondie. That's great!!

Thank you, everyone, for sharing my excitement and enthusiasm.. every day on the way to work and on the way back, I spend just a little time looking at the garden for any signs of new growth. It is so much fun. I had replanted the few skips I had, so I am now looking forward to those new little shoots popping their little heads up through the dirt.

It is a wonderful thing when something so small can give such great pleasure.. something I couldn't have more of if I was a multi millionaire. (of course, that would finance the organic free range farmette, but.. in the meantime, I have my little garden!)

I'm so happy for you. There's nothing better than seeing those first bits of green growing in your garden. And the first taste is always the best.
Good luck and keep it growing!

The real magic can be seen every day in our gardens.