3 Weeks Since Planting Side By Side Comparison!

This post is from June 28th

I'm excited about all the change that has occurred in such a short period of time.  Its amazing to see the difference in the plants compared to when I planted them.  The root veg all planted from seed have sprouted.  We saw the first signs of parsnips this week.  The carrot greens are growing well.  The radishes and beets have all been thinned out.  I've been enjoying salads with the baby greens from the thinnings :)  Yum.

The garlics are not doing so well, not sure what the issue is there?  Comment if you've got a suggestion.  The eggplants have grown significantly.  We will probably give away two of these plants as the four are too close together.

The health kick tomato is not looking that healthy (bottom right).  I am going to remove some of the lower branches and see what happens. These tomatoes are supposed to be similar to a Roma tomato but full of lycopene.  The grape tomato is growing great.  We put a support on it last week.  I definitely missed a couple of suckers on this one as there are now three main stems.  They grow so fast it's hard to catch them all, oh well.

Grape tomato left and ealth kick right.
Above: Seedlings as planted. Below after 3 weeks growth:

The ultra sweet tomatoes are also growing well not as fast as the grape but at a good rate.  We added a support to this as well last week.  The ultra sweet is a beefsteak variety.  We grew beefmaster last year and we loved how big they were and how much flesh they had.  They were great for burgers and sandwiches.  

In the above before picture you can also see the cherry bomb and cajun bell peppers as planted from starters.  Below is their progress after 3 weeks.  As you can see there are several peppers started.  

The cherry bombs are almost full size while the cajun bells are still quite small.  Can't wait to try both of these varieties.

The banana peppers where the largest when purchased from starters so I am not surprised that they are the first to produce full ripe peppers.  As you can see there are at least 4 peppers on each plant.  The habeneros were very slow to grow.  They have finally started getting larger plants but no sign of fruit yet.  The cayenne peppers are growing great!  As you can see in the bottom image we planted 6 of these plants.  I am hoping for a very large yield so I can make hot sauce.  We had one of these plants last year and it produced great, hoping for the same this year with all 6.  We also have two more in a pot which we may give to friends.

Right: Habenero Peppers, Center: Cayenne Peppers, Left: Banana Peppers.

 The sweet bell peppers are growing well.  There are some flowers just appearing today which means fruit soon!  This year we went with the early reds hoping to get some ripe peppers earlier than october (when we had them last year).

Leeks and onions are both growing well.  Not too much excitement on this front though just growth.

Growing lettuce is awesome!! Look at the growth in only 3 weeks. We have been eating baby lettuce salads for at least a week.  As we cut they just keep growing back!  We have romaine on the left (not full hearts yet but coming), green leaf in the centre and musclin mix to the right  (we're not sure what all the types are in this mix but its exciting).

The celery stalks are getting much thicker and firmer.  At first they would wilt at the first sign of drying out now they stay upright.  As you can see there are more stalks coming in the centre of the heart.  Looking forward to these in stir fries :).

The last section of our garden is being overrun by broccoli!  I did not space this section out well, but live and learn.  As you can see the brussel sprouts are growing well.  I'm going to give away 2 of these plants most likely to make room for more growth.  The snow peas are being dwarfed out by all the larger plants so I'm not sure if these little guys are going to make it, but we'll wait and see.  The cucumbers have finally started vining and so we will be able to train them out the side of the garden onto the trellis.  

On to the Pots!

The mint plant has grown well in the reused lettuce bowl from last summer.  I am going to start growing clippings soon to plant some more pots of mint.  I have been making some refreshing mojitos.  To make a large batch of mojito you need a lot of mint though.

In the her planters some herbs are growing nicely while others aren't.  The basil is growing very well this year, which is great because it often burns from too much sun.  The cilantro is also growing well with no sign of bolting yet.  Lastly the lemon thyme is doing well.  Both the flat and curly parsley are not doing much, but to be honest I don't use that much parsley anyway.

The nasturtiums are growing very hearty and I expect to see some flowers blooming soon.  These are nice peppery leaves which are great in salads.  Just a couple though as they are strong.

A last little update:  Check out these radishes already forming!  Can't wait to have one for a snack.