Aaaaaand we're off!

Due to just miserable rainy weekends, I was off to a bit of a slow start this year, but things are looking pretty good now. I missed the last frost date target by a few weeks, but was good by Memorial Day. Thought it might be good to revisit some of my New Year's gardening resolutions and see how I'm doing so far.

1. Landscape fabric - Found some at a yard sale. Not increibly thick, not sure how good of a weed block it would be. Haven't laid any down yet. Got a ton of straw from a friend, so it's somewhat less urgent.
2. Fertilize - I will do the first dose tonight. My plants seem to be not exactly thriving, though I'm certain they'll perk up soon.
3. Diversify - cukes, beans, kale, potatoes, zucchini - Kale in full swing. Zucchini plants but not up yet (slightly worried). Cuke seeds to be planted tonight. Maybe do beans at home. May pass on potatoes. Never do a very good job with those.
4. Potatoes - Meh.
5. Garlic - Had some volunteers pop up, tried separating and replanting, I don't think they took very well to it. May just need to wait until fall.
6. Raised beds - Nope.
7. Pruning - No need yet.
8. Kale square - Kale square is planted and some coming up already. Will try to stay on top of weeds.

So in terms of score, I'd give myself half credit on 3 and 5, full credit on 8, and not count 7. So about 2/7 - 29%. So a low F. F--. *sigh*

Pretty pleased with current progress. There were a ton of weeds, mostly this vine thing that looks like Creeping Charlie (great guide I found online that has a lot of the weeds I see in my plot - https://www.bhg.com/gardening/pests/insects-diseases-weeds/types-of-weeds/ ). It's pretty easy to pull most of it, but tough to get all of it.

How things looked when I'd just started...

Ack!

Kale Square

And currently...

Still needs work. But better.

Three types of kale.

Peas

My history with peas has been more than a little rocky. First I grew regular peas and found that despite having lots of pea plants the return was just awful. Like a giant bowl full of pea pods would generate enough peas for a medium serving of peas for me. Lame!

So I decided to go all in on sugar snap peas. I had a season or two of happiness with them, but I always felt like I didn't get enough of them. We would have them with 5 or 6 meals, but then none to freeze, none to share. Then I entered the black hole of peas. The last three or four years I've either not planted any or not gotten any. Like, not any. I'm not sure if it's the woodchuck or the deer or the rabbits, but the plants are just disappearing.

So this year I built them a fortress. A castle. A stronghold. Forged from the mighty chicken wire left over from the giant tomato cage in the back yard, I built a crude structure over the peas. Certainly good enough to keep out rabbits. Not sure with woodchucks, but probably. Also doubles as support once the peas grow a little higher. And I planted quite a lot of them. Both in the small strip off the back deck and the longer strip on the side. Clearing the beds took some time and effort. But if I get a bumper crop of peas, I'll be amply rewarded.

Side "yard" planting

Backyard strip planting

Mal needs cash, so he has offered to clean up the rock garden. Once a huge bed of flowers, chives, and strawberries, seasons of neglect have left it full of weeds and even some saplings. If he can get it cleared out, I may try growing a ton of basil in there. May also try to get the strawberries up and running again. I bought some seeds. We'll see how those work out.

Bonus daffodil. Also gives some hint of the brush that fills the rock garden.

Getting the chicken wire gave me a clue how much of a mess the fenced in garden has gotten to be. I will clean it out a bit, I do want to get green beans going back there. If I had a nice couple beds of green beans, I could probably get enough to freeze, that would be sweet.