Garden Sprouts

This year I plan to grow my garden in three phases: early spring, hot weather, early-late fall. Last week my very handy partner and I tilled the garden plot and planted rows of red potatoes, peas, green beans, lima beans, spinach, garlic, leeks, romaine lettuce, blue-green broccoli, carrots, beets and radishes. Last year I built my allotment in a new area and fought with the hard clay soil typical of our area. But I’m happy to report that this year’s soil looks vastly improved, with lots of worms, moisture and compost throughout.

I plan to harvest everything save the garlic and perhaps the leeks right around the time I begin planting my hot weather plants like tomatoes, okra, cucumber, squashes and melons. I will also attempt to plant everything from seed (except tomatoes, which I can’t get to sprout from seed for some mysterious reason), which I’ve never done before, so hopefully my garden will cost significantly less than it has before. Any tips for planting from seed?

Here are some photos of the very earliest sprouts. Many are still underground, a little mound of cracked earth the only hint that something is pushing through from underground. Isn’t spring exciting?

Broccoli sprouts

Red Potato Sprout

Radish Sprouts

Romaine Lettuce Sprouts

Spinach Sprouts

Pea Shoots