Saturday, September 26, 2009

Urban Gardening

It's been three weeks since the seeds were sown. Theoretically, within three more weeks I should be able to harvest. Looking at what is here, I can't help but wonder if I've overestimated just how many meals this will really provide, over the coming months. I had rather grandiose dreams of unlimited potential for harvest, all the fresh greens I want over the coming winter. And that may yet be true. Yesterday I gave them their first fertilizer since planting. Natural, fish emulsion, of course. Nothing but natural and organic here!


The spinach is definitely on the biggest roll, growth-wise. It popped up first and it's going gangbusters. I'm not sure how big this variety will become, but I generally eat my spinach in large handfuls, raw or wilted and generally young and tender. I may need to change those habits.

The lettuce is looking pretty good, too. It's starting to take on some tinges of red, but growing more slowly than I expected. On the other hand, I'm not an experienced lettuce grower, so it's probably right on schedule. I'm also wondering if I'll actually get a meal through thinning -- it might have to be a very small salad! Still, when thinned and grown, I expect the mature plants to provide plenty of large, outer leaves for harvest.

The chard is lagging pitifully behind. Last to sprout, slow to budge. That's no doubt simply its nature, nothing to worry about. No plans to harvest this young, so there should be plenty of mature leaves when the time comes, all winter long.

Hurry, please!

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