GARDENING (3)

I weeded the kitchen garden this weekend, so it's time for a status report.

1. Things I have grown before.

Rhubarb. I have had three crops already, and am on my fourth. An amazing plant, you don't have to do anything.

Potatoes. All 50 or so of my plants have come up, and are about a foot above ground. They are looking good.

Lettuces.  At one end of the rows, they have come up really well, but at the other end, nothing at all. Fortunately, we seeded them very close together, so I will transplant some of them from one end to the other and let them all have more room.

Carrots. They seem to take a long time to get going, but they are poking through, so I am confident we'll get some.

Squash. They take ages to get going, so no signs of life yet at all.

2. New things

Both the celery and cauliflower were bought as small plants, and take a while to develop roots. That end of the garden got flooded a couple of weeks ago, so they have had a hard time. My wife also thinks that the cauliflower are being eaten by deer. Anyway, removing all of the weeds seems to have spurred them into action, and things are starting to happen.

Similarly with the leeks. They are tiny thin things, when you buy them, it's incredible that they end up so big eventually. They were also flooded, but some of them are now standing straight up, so I think we'll get something in the autumn.

As you can tell, I am rather proud of my kitchen garden. It's not quite "city boy becomes farmer", but in that vein.

Walter Blotscher