This year, I purchased Abbondanza's locally cultivated seeds for my backyard garden. You can find the dirt (pardon the pun) on the whys and wherefores of this investment in this post: Can I Make My Back Yard Garden More Local? I am excited to see what my locally purchased seeds will do in my garden compared to longer-distance seed sources in years' past. I will be updating my blog throughout the growing season so you'll have a chance to check out the progress as well.
While early June may seem like mid-season in those in more temperate climates, it's early season here on the Colorado front range, especially considering we had snow mid-May this year. So far, I have healthy seedlings signally a solid harvest to come, in large part due to the seeds, but also because of rabbit fencing, compost and irrigation.
One row of green and wax bean seeds were eaten by blackbirds, so I replanted those a few days ago. Oddly enough, the birds discovered only one of my two rows originally planted so a have a line of nicely progressing plants. And those pesky birds may have actually done me a favor, as now my bean harvest will be spread out over several weeks.
I planted several varieties of leaf lettuce. Sprinkling the seeds together in a row will result in a blend of greens later in the season. The charcoal-colored tubing is soaker hose we installed last year. The timed drip system allows for water conservation, ideal in arid areas such as Colorado where gardens required irrigation.
Here's how zucchini and yellow summer squash look when they pop up. It will be a few weeks before fried squash blossoms are on our home menu.
Carrots always seem to take a while to get started. These little Nantes Scarlet seedlings are so small, I had trouble focusing the camera! This is the same cultivar that produced Carrot Love last season. Notice the cottonwood fluff that has settled in the garden.
Turnips are one of my favorite vegetables, especially when harvested as young, tender, small globes. You can see some bugs have been enjoying the leaves, but not to the extent that it will deter the growth of the plants.
Our beet seedlings are coming along. These could have been planted sooner but it was tough to get motivated when it was still snowing in April and May! No worries, we'll have luscious beets in no time. Well, not quite no time. With a growing time of 45-65 days, we should have beets by mid-July. I'll get back to you on that.
I've limited this particular season preview of my garden to seeds purchased from Abbondanza. Within the last week, herbs, eggplant and tomato plants from local green houses and farmers' markets have thickened the plot (pardon another pun). Stay tuned for the next episode.
