Could You Check Out This Growth?

I just got a new camera and I'm playing hooky from lab today, so I decided to give you a photo update on our garden.

In these three pots are store-bought white onions that sprouted due to not having been eaten quickly enough. I planted them in early May when the middle one was about 6 inches high.

As you can hopefully see, the middle one took off and now has a couple of blooms on it. Apparently these will not produce onions, but they will produce seeds that can be planted next year, but why bother?

I like the sculptural quality of the long thick stock with the ridiculously small poof at the top. It might look kind of cool if there were a big group of them in one spot, so I'm considering planting more onions next year if we can get them really cheap. I'll start them indoors, simply by ignoring them.

A gratuitous, 9.5-megapixel shot of Baps.


The back garden, where most of the action is.

From the lower left corner to the upper right: 1.) Swiss chard, which we have been eating a lot of. It grows really fast and plentiful. Plus it's healthy, and looks nice in the garden. This variety has red, yellow, orange, white and green stalks which looks kind of cool. A 12" pile of chard leaves, stems removed, chopped up and sauteed in a little oil and garlic, miraculously cooks down to 4 servings, but you have to add a little at a time or there will be an unmanageable mess on the stove. We've also had it as the main leaf in salads, and it's great, not too bitter, similar to spinach. 2) A tiny rhubarb plant just above the chard, on the far left of the photo. We'll be able to harvest it next year. 3) White onions or garlic, I forget which. 4) Three tomato plants, now blossoming and almost tall enough to stabilize with the recycled stair rail that used to be at our back door before the deck was built, and now is practical yard art. 5) Asparagus, 4' tall at the back near the fence, which we'll be able to harvest next year. 6) White onions or garlic, I forget which.
Below is one of 4 or 5 zucchini plants that have come up so far. For sake of reference, my feet are size 10, and I believe the color is OBI A True Original. I just got a pedicure yesterday, on a whim.



Here's our herb bucket, with basil, rosemary and thyme. The basil is doing great, much better than last year, and we've been able to harvest a lot of it and it keeps coming back. It's probably because it's getting more sun this year.


Six weeks ago I planted sweet peas in 4 hanging baskets around the yard, and they are coming up now.
I can definitely see the appeal of spending 12,000% more money on full-sized plants and getting immediate gratification at the very start of the season, but that's okay. I do think I'm going to start some seeds indoors next year, so I don't have to go six weeks after the last frost until something starts to happen, and then wait even longer for the plants to get to full size and then bloom.



Six weeks ago I planted moonflower seeds along this fence, hoping that they would grow as legend tells, 12-15 feet, and cover up the ugly fence. On top of that, they are supposed to have gorgeous 4-5" flowers that open at dusk in the space of a minute and stay open until noon the following day.

I've been waiting and watching for moonflower sprouts, and thought for a few days that a couple of the vines toward the back might be moonflower, but as they are actually growing up out of the neighbors yard, this is unlikely.

Then, finally, yesterday I was rewarded for my impatience.


That's about 1.5" tall. Here is a slightly more mature sprout (for sake of reference, I have man hands):



I have looked at pictures of moonflower sprouts online and I can say with confidence that these are them, in part because of the way the leaves look like they have had the tips bitten off, and because they are growing precisely along the line that I planted them. I planted around 40 seeds and I've seen 5 sprouts so far. Unfortunately a lot of weeds have taken over much of the growing area. I guess the good gardener in me would clear out all the weeds and just let the moonflower and hostas grow. But I'm kind of fond of some of the weeds, like the catmint, the nightshade, the clover and the creeping charlie. I guess I'm not a good gardener.