Spring Garden 2011 First Planting

The weather has been beautiful so I decided to go ahead start my spring garden a few weeks earlier then planned. 

Two weeks ago I planted six green bean seed and this week five of them went from

to

I’m not sure what happened to the sixth seed.  Maybe it will pop up this week.

In the meantime the heat has been great for the collards.  They look as big as they did when I “picked” them about three weeks ago.

The romaine however has bolted. 

I finally felt like I had a reason to remove it.  Last spring my lettuce plants came from a local organic nursery and the flavor was great.  This fall I tried the Bonnie plants that all the big box stores carry and it was bitter.  So out it all went.

And in went five new Bonnie plants.  A cucumber, two red peppers, one jalapeño pepper and more collards.  The collards were so good that at $1.78 for four small plants it was worth testing out how much warm weather they can take. 

The rest of the plants come in peat pots. 

Before planting, I reviewed some websites that promote square foot gardening.  I learned last year that not all of the principals are applicable to hot humid Florida summers but it’s a good place to start.  I planted one pepper per square leaving room for a few more something’s.  Maybe eggplant or maybe a few herbs.

I learned a lot about cucumbers last year.  They love to vine so the more space they have to spread out the more cucumbers they will produce.  They also need a little extra space because wet cucumber and squash leaves are very susceptible to mildew.  With all that in mind I decided that even though I have enough space for 3-4 plants I’m only going to plant two.  

Today’s plant is a full sized cucumber.  Plant #2 will come from a local organic nursery and last year they were pickle cucumbers.  The smaller ones are ready faster - which helps balance out my patience learning curve.