The garden is switching over into summer mode. Most of my spring crops are finishing up. Here's a quick overall status:

Peas: They did well this year. I did not have nearly as many as last year, and they also grew more slowly than last year. While I planted them in Feb this year (nearly 3 weeks earlier than last year), they were several weeks behind in production from last year. Probably due to the cold, wet spring we had.

Lettuce: I harvested quite a lot of lettuce this year - nearly 24 1 gallon food storage bags worth! I ate a bunch and was giving plenty away.

Radishes: Got some, but not tons. The French Breakfast ended up growing too fast due to a heat burst, and ended up being all hallow inside. The Icicle ones pretty much just bolted, but the cherry belle and German giant produced some nice radishes.

Cabbage: Well, the 'Orient Express' cabbage from Burpee bolted for the 3rd time in a row. That's the last time I'm trying this kind. Each and every time I've grown it (in fall or spring) it just bolts with no head formation at all. My red cabbage is still growing and is about the size of baseballs. I'll probably pick them soon.

Strawberries: I probably had the best year for strawberries ever. For about 2 weeks in late May and early June I was picking about a pint's worth a day. I had lots for myself and lots to share. They have pretty much slowed down, but I'm still getting a couple a day.

Kohlrabi: It's just about ready to be picked (I've actually picked 2 already).

Spinach: All done for now (has been for about 3-4 weeks). In all I harvested about 4 1 gallon bags of spinach. Had some great spinach salads and meals with it.

I have a bunch of photos from May and June that I'll upload shortly, as long as a current update of the progress of my summer crops.

One of my major goals this year is to be proactive, rather than reactive, on pest control. The first step I'm taking is to apply neem oil to the entire veggie garden at least every two weeks. I made the first application this weekend.

I bought a 2 gallon pump sprayer (and just after one use I can tell you it was worth the 20$) to use for this task. I filled it with one gallon of water, 1 TBS of neem oil, and 1 TSP of pure vegetable soap. For the neem oil, I used 'Dyna-grow' neem. You want to use a neem oil that is 100% neem and cold pressed. If it is neem extract, or not pure neem oil, there is a very good chance that the azadirachtin is not present. That is what makes the stuff work. When bugs eat leaves treated with neem, they loose their appetite and their desire to reproduce. So while neem oil is not a knockdown killer, it is probably one of the best organic products to use for preventative maintenance.

Neem also won't harm beneficial insects. It only 'harms' insects that eat the plants, so ladybugs, bees, praying mantis's, and beneficial nematodes won't be bothered by it at all.

I made sure to spray all of my plants and the soil of all the beds as well. Neem will seep into the soil and do the same thing to any hatching bugs. I even sprayed all of my seeds that are growing indoors.

Other steps I plan to take this year is to apply beneficial nematodes to the soil in the next few weeks and to get some praying mantis eggs. Hopefully these steps, along with others that I have planned (stay tuned!), will help keep the cucumber beetles, stink bugs, and squash bugs away this year.

I've created the 2011 Garden Image Gallery and started adding pictures from February and March. Check 'em out!

I have been busy cleaning up the garden beds and getting stuff planted. I've started outside (from seeds) peas, arugula, beets, radishes, carrots, and kohlrabi. I've also transplanted the spinach, cabbage, and lettuce seedlings that I started indoors from seeds outside today.

The spinach that I pre-sprouted is still doing well. They are just starting to get their first true leaves. They are growing a bit slower than expected, but the bed they are in will be dedicated to spinach for the entire season, so there is no rush.

I've also cleaned out the strawberry bed and applied some fertiliser and Bumper Crop.

The weather forecast for this weekend is making me a little bit nervous. Snow and lows in the low 20's. Hopefully the frost covers I have covering the beds will keep everything safe - I'm mostly worried about the lettuce and the strawberries. We'll see!

Over the last few weeks I've started most of the seeds for my spring vegetable plants. Outside I've planted:
Spinach (seeds and pre-sprouted - which have lived and are up and doing well!)
Lettuce
Peas (the batch planted 2 weeks ago are just coming up, and planted a second row)
Radishes

Inside I've started:
Onions
Spinach
Lettuce
Cabbage
Swiss Chard
Basil
Peppers

I'll be hardening off the Cabbage, Lettuce, and Spinach this week to go out in beds next weekend.

I have my new grow light all setup and running. I'll be posting some pics of the setup and seedlings soon!

This year I'm trying to pre-sprout my spinach seeds. After reading this article on growveg.com, I decided to try it myself (although I didn't really 'prime' the seeds, I sprouted them). Last weekend I let some spinach seeds soak for 24 hours in a small bowl of water. Then I drained them and placed them on a moist paper towel in a tupperware container. I let them sit for a week. After only a few days they had begun to sprout, and by today they were a tangled mess of sprouts! But I was able to separate them and planted some directly outside and also planted some indoors in a seed starting flat underneath my new grow light.

I did have some 'primed' seeds as well (as described in the above article). I planted them outside too. I'll see how each type does!

This morning I planted a row of sugar snap and snow peas. I've started 'Sugar Daddy' sugar snap peas and Oregon Sugar Pod II snow peas. Each type is getting two square feet of space, and I have about 16 or so in each square. I basically make two rows in each square, planting 8 seeds in each row, keeping them just over 1" apart. The rows are about 6 inches apart. It's a bit crammed, but in the past the peas don't seem to mind at all.

I let the seed soak in water for 24 hours, coated them in inoculant, and planted them outside. I've placed a floating row cover (doubled) over the bed to keep them a bit warmer.

Last year I started the peas around March 15th. I'm trying them a bit earlier this year to see how they do. I plan to start another row of peas, an identical setup, in a week or two. Hopefully I should be harvesting peas in May!

Over the weekend I started the first of my spring crop seeds. I started some cabbage (Red Acre and Orient Express) and Lettuce (about 6 different types) in my seed starter. It may be too early for the lettuce, but I'll see how it goes. I'll move them to larger pots when ready and keep them on my grow light stand until they are ready to go outside. If they are ready earlier, then they'll just go into a salad directly!

I also started onions indoors: Red Bull and Walla Walla. Last year I started the Red Bull onions directly outside in the spring. I ended up with a few dozen that were somewhere between a golf ball and baseball size. This year I'm going to see if starting them indoors makes a difference in size and quality.

I simply took a plastic seedling flat tray bottom and filled it with a mixture of seed starting mix and Bumper Crop. I divided the tray in half and scattered the seeds, followed by a thin coating of seed starting mix. Once they are about scallion size I'll dig them up and transplant them outside.

I'm interested in seeing how well the Red Bull onions sprout. I've been reading that onion seeds only have a 1 year shelf life. But since I had so many left over Red Bull seeds from last year, I want to give them a chance first. The Walla Walla seeds are new this year so I'll have something to compare them against. If they don't sprout well I'll end up buying some new seeds.

There is growing concern that stink bugs will be even worse this year:

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2011/02/21/stink-bugs-primed-to-bug-in-...

In case you haven't noticed, stink bugs have been getting more and more common each year. Last summer's weather combined with this winter seem to be the perfect conditions for stink bugs. While I haven't noticed a more than usual amount in our house this year (we always have a few which keep the cats entertained), I'll have to keep an eye out in the garden this year.

Last year I did notice a more than normal amount of them on my tomatoes. They do end up causing some damage to tomatoes as they suck the juice from them. If you see white or green patches which appear to be slightly dried out on your ripe tomatoes, that's probably stink bug damage.

This year I'm going to be very proactive with neem oil. Primarily to combat cucumber beetles, but here's another reason to spray everything weekly in the garden this year. Hopefully it will keep them at bay.

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