Project Veggie Garden, Day 64

We've been at this gardening thing for 64 days already! The outdoor veggie garden is in full swing. We picked a rectangular piece of the backyard, pulled up the grass, turned the soil, and mixed in a bag of organic garden soil. The lettuce, spinach, cucumber, and zucchini seedlings have all been transferred to the garden one at a time following a week of "hardening." One week before planting the seedlings, we began the hardening process by sitting them outside for just a couple of hours the first day and increasing the amount of time each day until finally they were outside overnight the night before planting. We also gradually moved them from indirect to direct sunlight, exposing them to more sunshine and wind over the period of the week. This process is supposed to toughen the plants so they'll survive out in the elements once planted.

Most of the plants adapted well, except for the red leaf lettuce. Since they were the first to begin the hardening process, and our spring weather was being quite fickle, they sat outside during some pretty chilly weather with almost no sunlight and strong winds. Thus most of the original lettuce seedlings died off that week and we had to start over with new seeds. An experienced gardener would have postponed the hardening week, but I was too excited to get the outdoor side of the garden going to wait. It all worked out in the end, though. We planted the surviving lettuce plants in the dirt and sowed additional lettuce seeds directly in the ground. They have sprouted just fine outside and we now have lots of gorgeous lettuce getting bigger and more colorful by the day.

We planted carrot and green bean seeds directly into the ground, per the instructions on our Seed Starting Chart. The carrot tops are still small, but looking good so far. Beans have not yet sprouted, but it's only been a week. I also started watermelon seeds indoors and have two happy little watermelon seedlings sitting in my windowsill. I would have had five, but my curious toddler dumped the other three and I haven't replanted just yet. I'm also having bad luck with basil seedlings. My first batch died off during early spring when we couldn't get any sunlight. I replanted and they sprouted quickly; however they were killed when hubby mixed up the water bottle and the vinegar bottle and watered them with cleaning solution. I will be replanting, though, because I love basil and can't live without basil pesto. Let's hope third time's a charm.

With all these veggies outside, the garden needed a little protection from bunnies and rodents. Brian picked out steel fence posts and poultry netting at Lowe's and installed a sturdy fence that has kept everything but the birds away from our veggies. The birds poke around inside the garden, probably looking for worms, but I haven't seen any damage from their presence so far. If they do cause problems, we'll probably try to construct a scarecrow to keep them out. The fence didn't seem to take long to install, but it must have been difficult because I was informed that we were never, ever taking it down.

This week, we are planting eggplant seedlings and hardening the pepper seedlings. We are down to only 3 eggplants and 2 peppers, but have decided not to start more at this time so the garden stays small and manageable in our first year as gardeners. So far, I don't think we're doing too bad, considering we're newbies with zero experience. There haven't been too many terrible mishaps -- just enough to keep it interesting.

Stick around for more adventures in veggie gardening. Happy planting!