What's this?! A GARDEN update?!!

No effin' way!!!

Yup!  It's TRUE!  

I am still limping along, IRL - both figuratively and literally - but I AM gonna plant my garden this year.  Hell, I'd better!  Otherwise I'm gonna need a machete to get into the greenhouse!

Jayzus!!!  Plant us already!

Or at least give us some water!!!

It's kinda hard to tell from my crappy Droid pics, but these shelves are fairly tall - with lots of clearance between them - and the friggin' Garden Center is starting to grow up THROUGH the shelves.  Oooops!

And - with daytime temps in the mid-80's - the greenhouse gets pretty damned hot during the day - in spite of the fact that I have removed one side-panel at the rear, I leave the door open, and the solar-fan kicks in whenever the temps rise above 75* (in other words - PLENTY of ventilation!).  Oh, and I have shade-cloth over the south-side and roof!

So yeah, the Summer Veggies *want* to get Super-Happy (including the Finny Farm Fam - all of the maters are doing quite well, but I did kill Cassandra Cuke - Booo!).  I'm sure they'd be a helluva lot happier in something bigger than their original mini-pots!  Like, say, a Raised Bed???

But FIRST:  Winter veggies have GOT to go!

Oh, that!

So I'd never really had much success with cool-season veggies in years' past.  I wasn't feeling terribly optimistic about this year's attempt either...

Boy was *I* surprised!

Couple of heads of broccoli, three carrots, a buttload of beets and some cabbage!

And that's not counting the stuff that I'd been harvesting, one-at-a-time, over the past several weeks (a beet here, a radish there, ad nauseum)!

You don't suppose that whole Testing and Amending Ritual might have anything to do with it, do ya?!  Nahhh!!!

Anyway, I never really considered the "logistics" that go along with maintaining a Year-Round-Garden.  Namely, that the winter veggies would be occupying my "very limited" gardening-real-estate when it was time to plunk the summer stuff in the ground!

Now I *could* plant maters toward the backs of the beds but A) I really don't want to plant the tomatoes in the  "exact same spot" as last year (I'm trying to "rotate" crops - as much as my limited space will allow) and B) I've already got, like, 3-4 "Volunteer" tomatoes, back there, that seem to be fairly well established.  No clue what they are - but I only planted heirlooms last year - so they should come back "true" (to whatever they are!) this year...

Anyway, I slathered myself up with moisturizers galore (still have my skin condition to deal with - sh**!), and pulled on TWO pairs of gloves.  Then I harvested all that I could find; yanked out (and composted) most of the plants; and I am *almost* good-to-go for summer-veggie planting!

I did leave the onions, garlic and artichokes - along with a couple of cabbages that look like they *might* form heads (but I doubt it!).  I also caged one of the Volunteer 'Maters (in the back of the left-hand bed).

What I *really* need is for Rent-A-Son-Services to come back (hopefully next weekend???) and build a third raised bed over next to the greenhouse (where the Straw-Bale Experiment used to live).  I plan to use the NEW bed for most of my 'maters - with the "overflow" getting planted in these older beds...

I've lost count of how many tomato plants I have (WAAAAAY more than I need - that's for sure!).  I've also got squashes, and melons, and pumpkins, and strawberries (destined for a strawberry planter), and herbs, and Gawd-only-knows what else!!!

I know I've got WAY more plants than my raised beds can accommodate, but I do have another quasi-garden bed out in the "main yard."  I figure - since that part of the yard is mostly Ornamental/Tropical-esque - I'll probably put the vining stuff (squashes, melons) out there.  The large-leaved vines should look fine out there.

Annnnnywaaaaaaayyyy...  My "hope" is to get the new raised bed completed next weekend and, with any luck, I'll get ALL of my summer veggies planted next weekend, as well!
Oh, and I might even get all A/R and "write down what gets planted where!" Duhhhhh!!!

Wouldn't THAT be awesome?!

Okay then - methinks it's Cocktail Hour....................................................