Update on the Delk Garden

March 2, 2012 -

My blog dashboard tells me that it has been two weeks since I last update this. So...here is an update.

Tragedy Strikes The Seedlings! I think I use that word too much. Well we all know we have had a very unseasonable winter. I like it but the seeds for most spring vegetables don't. I had a couple of varieties of cabbage and broccoli going but they just never seemed to develop. I also had some cauliflower going as well but it also seemed to have trouble flourishing. I think the reason was two-fold: (1) Poor nutrition in the seed starting soil I had and (2) it was just too warm. From what I read last year, the Cole family likes to have weather around 55-65 degrees to germinate. We just have not had that in the house or outside and because of that my seedlings bolted. Well needless to say, I chunked them into the compost pile last night. I have bought two varieties of Broccoli from Bonnie Plants that I will do and one variety of cabbage. These are Premium Crop and Packman for the Broccoli and Flat Dutch for the cabbage.

Tulips are still working their way up. I think just about every bulb came up that we planted in the fall.

Garlic is doing well. Hopefully it will continue to grow and I will have some garlic for the fall.

Got 8 of the beds functioning and ready for plenty of plants. Still got two that I need to fill and get ready. I also have enough material for at least one more with my re-purposed lumber.

I plan on this weekend starting my tomato plants indoors with the help of my empty toilet paper rollers.

Keep growing.

Tulips-a-Plenty

February 4, 2012 -

Last fall, before cooler temperatures arrived, I got two types of tulip bulbs on sale. Jocelyn's favorite flower is the tulip. So we purchased some red and white tulips and allowed them to take over one of the beds. This might have been poor planning on my part but it will be worth it when they sprout up here soon.

When I noticed our garlic bulbs poking their heads up a couple of weeks ago, I also noticed that the bulbs I had planted in the fall had also awakened. With the unseasonably warm weather we have had all winter, it is no wonder that they have poked their little green thumbs out the ground. When I counted all of the bulbs that Abby and I planted last year were up and out.

They are just small compact shoots now, but hopefully they will harken in spring when it gets with a burst of color. They also will hopefully mark a spot for honey bees to come back to several times this summer.