A Peek Under The Hoop

This is a quick peek under one of my 3 hoop gardens.  This one has broccoli at the front – this is the same broccoli that had the initial problem with downy mildew.  After a few treatments – discussed in a previous post – the plants seem small, but no sign of mildew.  These plants now have tiny heads – hopefully they will grow into big, harvest-able heads.

Midway back on the right side, in front of more broccoli, is bok choy.  Then there is broccoli, and spinach behind the broccoli.  On the left half of the bed, the small seedlings are spinach and lettuce.

The other beds are more impressive – will try to post pics soon.

Lettuce After The Rabbits Visited

Last winter rabbits ate all of my lettuce and spinach growing in this bed.  These few cos lettuce plants regrew, as did 2 spinach plants at the far end of the bed – top right of this pic.

It is time to pick this lettuce – I don’t need the seeds so I’m not going to let it go to seed.  I planted peppers, basil, onions and squash around the lettuce.  (The peppers and onions were started from seed.  These basil are volunteers.)

Those are t-posts holding up a 16 foot cattle panel that the winter squash planted directly under it is going to grow up on.  I keep my beds heavily mulched with old leaves.  Raised beds are not the best idea here in hot, dry Texas, but it is how I have chosen to grow my garden in this red CLAY soil here.

Spinach

I planted spinach over a month ago, some 2 months ago. We have had some very cold days, but I really expected my spinach to be further along. For the first almost month after sprouting, the plants barely hung on. Within the past few weeks I can see them visibly growing larger.

This tiny spinach plant has to be at least 6 weeks old. I don’t think I noted the plant date in my garden notebook. (I really need to keep better records.)

These little guys (or girls) are all over the rows where I seeded them. As spring gets nearer, they should grow faster. I need to get busy planting more seeds in the next few weeks. I will have to plant them in between where I think I will be setting pepper and squash plants.