April Seeds and Showers

- White Globe Purple Top Turnips in the middle section of Salad Bar Row
- Kuroda Asian Carrot - east side of the tomato bed between pink straws
- Burdock, Watanabe - more
- Cowpea, Fagiolino Dolico di Veneto - 16 more in front of Salad Bar (note first round of 8 and second round of 8 have good germination and growth) *update - have planted the entire packet and ordered more
- Trionfo Violetto Pole Bean - soaked and planted the remainder of the package along the rose arbor * germination rate is the bleh

The two Black Jungle Lima Beans I soaked and planted early last week?  Have not yet sprouted.  Will start 2 more in pots.

Also starting:
- Nastoriums
- Little Lucy Okra

Planted out from seedling pots:  Leaf Radish (east side tomato bed); basil (west side tomato bed); Bulls Blood Beets (east face of Salad Bar); Tatsoi (east side tomato bed)

Summer Lettuce update:

As far as sprouting and micro greens size; all three are about the same.  The mature BSS took a huge beating in the storm last week.  Will have to see how it recovers.

April started with a deluge of rain.  And then it was dry, and dry and dry some more.  Both seedling pots of lettuce are now dead.  Between watering error and dastardly squirrels.  I've an idea to try next.

The Venice cowpeas are being inter-cropped into salad bar row.  Slowly we are eating out the salad.  Mid April - I spent a morning carefully going along pruning; cleaning and harvesting.  I filled a large salad spinner, and there is still enough for more refills.  I started from the full sun end and worked towards the shade.

Along the rose arbor, the pole beans didn't germinate well at all.   I've planted a section of bush beans in front to get us some more beans in the house - Royalty Purple Pod.  I'm not going to try to save seed, I'm just going for beans to eat!  The Royalty Purple Pod have germinated and grown like crazy.  Less than a week after planting, they are 6" tall already.  Right now they are intercropped between the Portuguese Kale along the rose arbor.  I'll give them another week (maybe) to grow up, and harvest and freeze the Portuguese Kale.  Then I'll start some Black Jungle Lima bean on the rose arbor to take over for summer.  I actually ended up with 4 extra tomato plants.  They have gone in the ground on the neighbors side of the rose arbor.

Oh, I started a couple of Sweet 100 Cherry and tomatillo.  The Cherry's will carry on during the summer provided they get some afternoon shade and the tomatillo is an experiment.  I probably should start a selection of the other cherry varieties and some currant tomatoes in preparation for hell-heat time.

Sweet potato slips are being planted out.  The batch I started from Publix organics are in the square wood front planter.  The Porto Rico bush beans are in the curvy wood front planter.  I think I may try some around the magnolia stick with the chayote.  See how it does in part shade.

Oh!  And soon, there will be more sun!  Down in the garden that is.  A real bonafide arborist is coming Saturday to look at our Laurel Oaks and advise us.  Minimally, the one in the front that steals so much of the sun and is taking away from the live oaks will be seriously thinned.  Eliminate the crossing branches and the branch growing SE over the live oak.  And the neighbor to east is going to pay for having the huge branch removed that overhangs his driveway.