Have You Started Your Garden?

Here in Portland, the gardening season starts pretty early.  In fact, you could argue that it never stops.  I've been trying to budget my food expenses a bit more, so last week I decided I'd only eat vegetables that I already had, or that I picked from my garden.  Here is most of what I harvested for the week:
The orange globes in the background are acorn squash I harvested last year.  The big white roots are parsnips.  The leafy greens are cilantro, kohlrabi, kale and mustard greens that I planted last year - they survived the winter, along with the onion.  I don't eat a lot of vegetables compared to some people, but I was able to get some green in my diet every day last week, and it was all from my garden.

I already have some seeds planted in the outdoors and they are starting to sprout up.  I've planted carrots, basil, onion, fennel, chard, lettuce, parsnip, broccoli, kale and leeks.  I think I'll wait a few weeks before planting anything else, but I have these starts going indoors:
The big ones are lemon cucumber.  I have high hopes for these starts, in spite of the fact that I usually end up killing all my starts.  This year I abandoned the egg crate method and started the seeds in re-used plastic start containers from last year.  So far they are doing really well.  The greater volume of soil means that they don't dry out too fast, so if I forget to water them one day they don't just expire immediately.  I'll try to harden them off a little in the next few weeks so I can get them in the ground when they're big enough to transfer.

What are your gardens looking like?  Have you started planting yet?

Comments

Rebecca said…
I don't mean to be rude, but why are your parsnips so squat?

As for my garden . . . well, I put some carrot and pea seeds in the ground last Tuesday. So far nothing has happened.

I grow parsley year-round so I can harvest that.

I want to grow leeks. Is it the wrong time to start them, I wonder?
Gina said…
Rebecca, It's okay. I know your rudeness about my parsnips stems from jealousy that I have some to pick. I don't know why the dang things are so squat. I think I under-watered them last year, which is why they weren't big enough to eat last fall.

I planted some leeks already this year. I've never grown them, but I think they are like onions: they can be planted pretty early. I have seeds if you want to share.
Rebecca said…
I think you meant my rudeness is rooted in jealousy.

Oh yes, I would like some leek seeds, please!
Rosemary Ragusa said…
Your site looks great! Nice photos.
Gina said…
Thanks, Rosemary!
GlutenFreePDX said…
Gina, this is a great article, and makes me feel a bit guilty. I've always looked on fondly at neighbor's little vegetable gardens and potted herbs, and have NEVER gotten around to it. That's it. This weekend, starting my own. Thanks for the inspiration!
Gina said…
Do it, Ben! It's amazingly fun to watch things grow that you've planted with your own hand.

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