My weather prediction has come true sooner than I expected. Although we’re continuing to get some very hot, sunny days, we’ve actually had a decent string of cool, rainy days- just what spring plants love the best. With this combo of sunshine and rain, it seems like everything in the garden has grown about a foot in the last week. The garlic, which already got a head start over the warm winter, is looking at least a month ahead of schedule and the kale and cabbage have grown big enough that I’m no longer concerned about slugs and cutworms making much of a dent in them. The carrots, spring mix, and baby kale, all seeded directly into the soil, have sprouted as well.
Right now we’re in a nice little hiatus where the plants are growing, but the weeds haven’t quite gotten going. This is one advantage of planting seedlings as opposed to seeds. The seedlings, already several inches tall when planted, get a head start over the weeds and help to keep the weeds at bay by providing shade and therefore taking the sunlight and the space that the weeds could otherwise use to grow. But with the weather as conducive to growing as it has been this week, I’m expecting the weeds to catch up soon enough. The cilantro that stayed in the ground over winter and re-sprouted this spring has already gone to seed with all the recent heat, but the spinach is still going strong. And now it’s just a few more weeks before we’re harvesting even more out of the garden at last!
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