karly gardens, may 1, 2014

Cauliflower sparkling with a raindrop necklace

Carrots

Arugula

Beets

Spinach

Peas & lettuce

Radish and peas

French breakfast & Easter egg radishes with a couple of violas

Lacinato (Tuscan, Dinosaur, Black) Kale and radishes

Gardener shadow

Pretty things are happening in the garden these days.  Plants are really starting to shoot up, new sprouts continue to appear, and the harvesting has begun.  Earlier this week we got three days of heavy rain, which I'm sure the plants appreciated (to an extent) but near the end of the third day I saw definite pooling in the beds.  Fortunately, once the rain subsided the puddles did too, so I suppose drainage in our raised beds is decent.  Yay!
Now that it's May and the danger of frost has passed (I think), most everything can go outside.  I've already placed a few of my tomato plants in the garden, and peppers will go out soon.  Cucumber seeds have been sown, and squash and zucchini will be planted in a few days I expect.  I have also sown sunflower seeds (and a good number have sprouted) with hopes of growing some impressive specimens (though I won't be too picky…last year my sunflowers were unsuccessful and I don't think I've ever tried any before that).
I have also started a good number of flower seeds indoors.  My luck with direct sowing last year was not great, so I thought with the grow light setup I might find success placing small seedlings instead.  Cosmos and zinnias have sprouted, and I plan to plant some foxglove to get started to hopefully bloom next year (as it is biennial).  This afternoon I treated myself to two perennials at the local garden store: a blue hydrangea (I pine for the blooms every June and am very excited to establish a plant of my own) and a pink bleeding heart.  Year-after-year plants would be a nice change from my focus on annuals so far :)
Pictured below is just the foliage from the bed of daylilies in our backyard.  I am not fond of lilies in general, but these were planted before we moved in and I haven't yet figured out what I'd use to replace them.  The rain and morning light were pretty enough to warrant a photo yesterday.