I may as well kick off the spring garden photo lineup.
March started off pretty tough for me when a late, unexpected; freeze killed my 36 heirloom tomato varieties. They were in my cold frame which had already protected them through a few freezes, but the last one went much colder than predicted. I made a tour of local greenhouses and was able to replace most of the varieties. I planted most of them on March 7 with a few more planted on March 15. They are growing fast, blooming heavily, and a few tiny fruit have set.With the exception of my lettuce and one onion bed, everything in my garden was planted on or after March 7.
Click photos to enlarge!
View of my garden before March 7.
[img]https://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll308/tedln/2011%20Garden/IMG_2687.jpg[/img]
The same view on March 26
[img]https://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll308/tedln/IMG_2719.jpg[/img]
Five tomato varieties, yellow summer squash, and onions in one bed
[img]https://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll308/tedln/IMG_2726.jpg[/img]
Romaine lettuce in the background and Bright lights chard in the foreground.
[img]https://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll308/tedln/IMG_2722.jpg[/img]
More chard planted with carrots. The chard will grow tall and the carrots will provide green mulch underneath the chard. The front side of this bed had four tomato varieties and cucumbers to grow up the trellis.
[img]https://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll308/tedln/IMG_2724.jpg[/img]
Italian lettuce varieties mix from the twenty cent per pack Walmart selection. Also in the bed are five tomato varieties with yellow squash and onions. This bed includes my Black Krim and Cherokee Purple tomatoes. Both varieties are loaded with blooms. I'm looking forward to some great tasting tomatoes this summer.
[img]https://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll308/tedln/IMG_2725.jpg[/img]
and last, my first tiny garden spider of the season.
[img]https://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll308/tedln/IMG_2736.jpg[/img]
I intend taking photos of the garden weekly from the same vantage points to record the weekly growth habits of different vegetables. If I think any of them look interesting, I will post them. I wish you a great gardening year.
Ted
Ted, love your garden! Beautiful veggies indeed!
Sorry to hear about the frost, shame for such loss, I remember the photos of your seedlings, shame indeed! Glad you were able to source those locally! We too are having some unexpected frost 4 days in the row, and even snow tomorrow. Didn't even bother with warm weather crops yet.
But that's gardening, sometime you win, sometime you loose.
Really nice garden!
Regards,
D
Sorry to hear about the frost, shame for such loss, I remember the photos of your seedlings, shame indeed! Glad you were able to source those locally! We too are having some unexpected frost 4 days in the row, and even snow tomorrow. Didn't even bother with warm weather crops yet.
But that's gardening, sometime you win, sometime you loose.
Really nice garden!
Regards,
D
Thanks DV and applestar. The wife asked me if I was upset when I found my seedlings frozen. My answer was "nope", it's just part of gardening and it was my fault for trusting the weather forecast. All I had to do was stick a 100 watt light bulb in the cold frame with the plants and they would have been fine. I'm still growing most of the varieties I planned on growing plus a few varieties I hadn't planned on growing. Box Car Willie, Pineapple, Mr. Stripey, and Rutgers indeterminate are now added to my list. They may not be very good, but I will know for sure after this season.
Ted
Ted
Cool, added varieties, huh 
Is Ananas Noire variety the same as your Pineapple? Growing it for the first time this year as well. Had Rutgers last year, but compact ind/semidet type. Very very productive, perfect globes. Just pure tomato taste, excellent for traditional sauces!
Good luck with the garden, keep the frost away!
Regards,
D
Is Ananas Noire variety the same as your Pineapple? Growing it for the first time this year as well. Had Rutgers last year, but compact ind/semidet type. Very very productive, perfect globes. Just pure tomato taste, excellent for traditional sauces!
Good luck with the garden, keep the frost away!
Regards,
D
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stella1751
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Wow, Ted! You have been busy! Your garden looks lovely and incredibly prolific already. (The spider not so much.)
I'm sorry to hear about your loss. That is disappointing, but your attitude toward the loss is wonderfully pragmatic.
I started pepper and tomato seeds three days ago. It wll be another two or three months, at least, before it looks like yours does now, but it will feel good to be checking on plants once again, even if they're just seedlings.
It will be fun to watch your garden grow!
I'm sorry to hear about your loss. That is disappointing, but your attitude toward the loss is wonderfully pragmatic.
I started pepper and tomato seeds three days ago. It wll be another two or three months, at least, before it looks like yours does now, but it will feel good to be checking on plants once again, even if they're just seedlings.
It will be fun to watch your garden grow!
Ours here are still soggy, cold and bare...only going to be 18 degrees tonite.Great garden, Ted! Have you always gardened in beds? It looks like they're working for you by the growth of your chard.
That's too bad about the frost. I had a frost last year and had to hurry up and but the milk jugs over all of the plants. I see you have your onions going as well....good man!
Keep us updated
.
That's too bad about the frost. I had a frost last year and had to hurry up and but the milk jugs over all of the plants. I see you have your onions going as well....good man
!Keep us updated
.Thanks for the comments folks!
Just to demonstrate the vagaries of gardening and weather in North Texas, our daytime temps for the last few days have been in the low to mid eighties with night time lows in the high fifties and low sixties. The gardens have loved the weather as the photos demonstrate. Today our high temps will be in the low fifties with the possibility of frost at night. If my garden survives the next couple of nights, I should be okay because frosts after April 1 are very rare. Our transition time from cold weather to hot weather in the spring and hot weather to cold weather in the fall, is very short. We have to time our plantings carefully and then hope for the best.
Ted
Just to demonstrate the vagaries of gardening and weather in North Texas, our daytime temps for the last few days have been in the low to mid eighties with night time lows in the high fifties and low sixties. The gardens have loved the weather as the photos demonstrate. Today our high temps will be in the low fifties with the possibility of frost at night. If my garden survives the next couple of nights, I should be okay because frosts after April 1 are very rare. Our transition time from cold weather to hot weather in the spring and hot weather to cold weather in the fall, is very short. We have to time our plantings carefully and then hope for the best.
Ted