2011 Garden - Vegetables May 7th

Please visit and like my new facebook page Georgia Home Garden.

It has been an exciting week in the garden.  Many of the vegetables are getting to the point that all the work will start paying off.  My carrots are at 75 days since planting and according to the seed packet they should be ready.  However, they still seem a little small to me so I am going to leave them in the ground another 7 to 10 days.
 

My zucchini is growing at a rate that is unbelievable.  It has only been in the ground 30 days and it is already starting to form flower heads.  My squash planted at the same time is no where near that far along.  The funny thing is the zucchini takes 55 days to harvest and the squash takes 41 days to harvest according to the seed packets.  The squash is supposed to be ready a full 2 weeks before the zucchini, but I don't see that happening.  This is a clear cut case of the soil makes all the difference in the world.  I planted the zucchini in my raised beds with good soil, and the squash was planted in regular soil in another area of my yard.  I really wish I would have planted some squash in my raised beds, but I was worried about cross pollination. 

My broccoli has formed a central head on one of the plants and I hope I will get some good harvests before the really hot weather gets here.  The tall snow peas are still producing pods, but I am still waiting on the smaller ones to produce.  All in all a good week.

Garden Overall

Elite Hybrid Zucchini starting to form flower buds

Broccoli head forming

Carrot bed is completely engulfed

My curiosity got the best of me and I pulled a carrot, this one was about six inches long, but the shoulder was not even half an inch wide.  I sure hope they get bigger.

Corn is about 3 feet tall

2011 Garden - Flowers May 7th

Please visit and like my new facebook page Georgia Home Garden.

In my garden I primarily focus on growing vegetables.  I am trying to grow a few flowers this year so I can expand my gardening knowledge.  I planted some marigolds from seed in some decorative pots.  I also planted some zinnias around my mailbox from seed.  I bought some impatiens seeds, but have yet to plant them.  I have a few endless summer hydrangeas that I planted a few years ago, and this year I planted about 20 fashion azaleas along my fence.  Most of the flowers are in bloom now so I thought I would post some pictures on their progress.

Endless Summer Hydrangeas - I bought 4 of these from Lowes about 3 years ago and these have got to be the longest blooming hydrangeas ever.  These bloom from April to November in my climate and I do absolutely nothing to them.  They do tend to droop in the hot summer days of Georgia because I don't water them as often as I should, but other than that they are great.

Hydrangea Bloom

Marigolds planted from seed have engulfed pot and started to bloom.

Marigold flower

I planted these zinnias around my mailbox in alternating rows of red and white.  I started them from seed and they are coming along nicely.

Close up of zinnia getting ready to bloom, and it looks like a red one.

Fashion Azaleas that I planted along fence line.  I hope in 3 to 5 years these will grow together and create a screen.  I planted 20 of these about 4 feet apart.

Fashion Azalea in bloom, I really like the color of this variety

2011 Garden - May 1st

Please visit and like my new facebook page Georgia Home Garden.

Everything is coming along in the garden. It has been a busy week and it has been hard keeping up with everything. With my daughter's soccer schedule, my softball schedule, church, and keeping up with the regular yard work it is hard to give the garden all the attention it needs. The snow peas are in full production mode and I am getting a handful or more of pods a day. Still waiting on the Oregon Sugar Pods to start producing. I only have one broccoli plant that is thriving, the rest I think I planted too late. I can't keep up with the lettuce output right now, so I am eating all I can and I have been giving the rest to family and friends. Hopefully the carrots should be ready for harvest in just a few more weeks. I dug around a few of them and they are about the diameter of my pinkie finger now. The corn is growing great and it is about 2 feet tall now. That is all for now, back to the grind tomorrow.

Zucchini is growing great at least 5 times larger than squash plants

Lettuce

Largest Broccoli Plant

Carrots

Oregon Sugar Pod II Snow Peas

Corn

I have 9 squash plants, they are tiny compared to the zucchini planted at the same time.  They are in plain dirt instead of my special mix in my raised beds, which is why they are behind.

.