Rain & growing garden

Weather reports have been promising rain for many days now; finally, the weather delivered us some rain last night. The picture shows my giant measuring cup (which I use for gardening and garage stuff) full of rain water that fell overnight; four cups.

Overnight rain water from the storm

The garden is growing. Everyday I visit, it seems like something new is popping up: sage, thai basil, regular basil, chamomile, American Flag leeks, parsley, zucchini and of course weeds (mint, grasses, corn speedwell). Marigolds have yet to make an appearance. I wish the scallions were growing more vigorously. The cilantro seems to have grown more aggressively after these last humid hot days and acidifying the soil nearby. Nasturtiums, shallots and spinach seem to be growing better now. Danielle's Jalapeno plant is growing new leaves (it's gotten over the transplant shock). My other transplants (eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, calendula) haven't grown or look sickly.

The Porto Rico Sweet Potatoes came by mail and are now sitting in some water rehydrating. I plan to plant two this afternoon in the empty spaces above and below the eggplants.

Planted more seeds: Lettuce, Parsley, Marigold, Spinach & Calendula. Planted two sweet potatoes.

Trellises & Hot Peppers

Yesterday and today were pretty warm days between 65 and 75F. I planted hot peppers in the garden and put up two trellises. One for the honey and brandywine tomatoes and the other for my cucumbers. I took pictures of the various veggies growing in my garden.
Link to newest plant:
Barkers New Mexican Chile (Bonnie Plants/Lowes)

Here is the newest member of my collection. A New Mexican hot chile. Bonnie Plants promises a spicy pepper.

Trellises at center of photo with my new Barnes and Noble bag.

Tomato trellis (left) & Cucumber trellis (right). The tomatoe trellis uses some untreated stakes from Lowe's vertically and the two horizontal pieces are 1" thick hollow bamboo. The one on right is assembled with branches that have fallen off the trees from our rental home and some untreated short stakes from Lowe's.

This is the Jalapeno plant Danielle gave to me. He is tied to the tomato trellis with Jute rope for the moment.

We think it's a strawberry plant. I chopped it's flowers off today so it can focus on growing roots and hopefully fruit later in the year.

Spinach

Baby Butterhead Lettuce

Baby Butterhead Lettuce

We think it's Salad Bowl Lettuce

Broccoli Raab

Collard Greens (they are tiny; the picture is deceiving)

Kohlrabi is growing pretty well.

Mostly Radishes with some Carrots sprinkled here and there

I fed my plants fish emulsion (Espoma) yesterday.

Hot Peppers & Early Spring Heat

Leek (left) Impatiens (top) Parsley (right)

Cucumber with tomatoes in the background (the tomatoes are really growing well; I used some plastic to stake the Brandywines already in their pots)

Dill (left), Sage (front), Thai Basil (back)

Hot Peppers: 2 Poblanos (front row) 1 Jalafuego Jalapenio & 3 Anaheim Chiles (background)

I've been transplanting the tomatoes and eggplants using a mix of Mosser Lee No Damp Off Moss with Compost Crew Garden Soil. I started new seedlings like Cucumber, Calendula, Zucchini and American Flag Leeks in Organic Mechanics Seedling Starter. Since I ran out of the Garden Soil, I'm using a mix of Compost Crew Soil Conditioner Compost with the Seedling Starter for any new transplants. I spread some of the Compost Crew compost around my seedlings in the garden and have also fed them some Espoma Fish Emulsion(April 12). Broccoli Raab, Lettuce, Cilantro, and one Spinach seedling(s) are showing up now. Kohlrabi hasn't changed; Radishes are growing well and I think Carrots are starting to show up too. We have experienced temperatures up to 85 degrees F yesterday. They are expecting 32 degrees Tuesday night. For most of what I have planted, the cold will improve the flavor. The Cilantro might need some protection...

Notes: I've been using a step ladder to hold plants on the steps so more get sunlight. I used some clear plastic to help hold in some heat and keep it slightly more moist in the plastic. This seems to have worked well since the plants have grown. I have also been using some plastic mini green houses from Ikea. 

Fertilizer

Yesterday I fed my seedlings some Gro-Tone Espoma Fish Protein "For Organic Gardening". We'll see how they react to it. I also purchased some Organic Neptune's fish fertilizer liquid. They both say organic but the Neptune one lists OMRI.

My eggplants (lower half) and peppers (upper half) are coming up now; they took two days longer than the tomatoes.