Summer Garden

My spring garden turned out rather disappointing- heavy rains and a lack of gutters colluded to drown many of my seedlings. Then, last two weeks of 90-degree temperatures finished off the survivors. Such is the life of a SoCal gardener- the average is 70 degrees but we seem to just swing through the extremes, rarely sitting at "average".

So I threw up my hands and started my summer garden. It's been 90 after all, right?  I had given an earlier start to my zucchini plants in the hope that they'd establish and bear fruit before being overwhelmed by the tomato plants like last year. The plan appears to be working- I already have one little zucchini. There are currently three plants- I'll see how crazy that is I guess. I also started snow peas earlier, and after a very slow start, they appear to be on their way to productivity. We had our first tasty, small batch this weekend.

For the rest of the garden, I put in the following this weekend:

The peas & zucchini have a good start.
Debris is from work on the front yard. 

3 kinds of tomatoes:
- Sweet 100 (Returning this year after a spectacular crop last year)
- Hillbilly (Jon wanted an heirloom variety- this seemed appropriate)
- Pantano Romanesco Italian Heirlom

3 varieties of peppers:
- Golden Bell
- Purple Beauty
-Giallo di Cuneo

And the following:
- Kentucky Wonder string beans
- Little Leaf pickling cucumbers
- Little Finger Carrots
- Tatsoi (spring garden)
- Golden beats
- Pak Choi & Gailan

Updates to come. For the moment, the garden is enjoying rain and 49 degree temperatures. So much for summer...

Garden Update

The vegetable garden appears to be doing fairly well, which is coming as a total surprise. I guess watering your vegetables regularly makes a difference! I'm glad that I installed the automatic drip system. I was gone on business last week and didn't have to worry about my plants. I was pleasantly surprised to see how big they'd grown while I was gone. My tomato plants are nearly 4 feet tall and starting to develop little green tomatoes. I'm already seeing some beans and a bell pepper appear too. The zucchini has struggled, surprisingly, but it appears to be on its way now. Hopefully we'll have a bountiful harvest in the near future.