Wee Green Things :)

Here is a quick update on where we are with our little garden so far. I hope you enjoy it! :)

In the picture immediately above and below this one, you will see 18 of my 20 bales for this year. :) They are in two double rows. I did not realize that it is not advised to pair them touching until it was too late. You can also see that my bales are REALLY decomposing! :) The conditioning process, combined with the excessive rain this year, has allowed them to really process very well! 

You can also see in the picture immediately above this one that I used some of last year's old and already well-decomposed straw for an additional planting space. The wheel of the wagon is broken and we don't use it. I thought that repurposing it was better than getting rid of it. :) 

What you cannot see very well in either picture, is that all of the bales along the front are chalk full of tomatoes plants!! I grew all but a couple of these from seeds in my own living room this year! I am SO excited about that!

This is our old planter, purchased back in the mid 2000's. Over the years, it has grown tomatoes and strawberries.

Right now, it is home to several different varieties of spinach. It looks like not many have come up and that I will need to thin out the ones which have come up too close together.

Giraffe sprinkled in the seeds for these herself. :) Both girls have been very active and involved in the gardening this year. It is one of my favorite things to teach them! I believe that a passion for gardening will ensure that both girls has a solid grasp of her own sustainable future. 

This planter is one which we refer to as a "Papa planter". After my dad passed away in March, my mother had to move. They used these planters for tomatoes and other assorted veggies out on the patio where they lived. 

This planter is filled with a variety of lettuce, in different stages of growing. I will come back to create a comprehensive list again later on when I have time. We are excited to try more flavors than before!

This planter - another "Papa Planter" is the happy home of my cabbage this year. 

Later on, there will be several varieties of both green and red. So far, this is only growing red cabbage.

Red cabbage is another variety which I have never grown before. These are already making me crazy with joy, just to look at their little wee sprout selves!

This Papa planter looks very empty at the moment. What you believe you are looking at here is my cauliflower. 

Again, here we have another plant which we have never previously grown! This baby - like most of the babies in my garden right now - was grown with love and tenderness from a few seeds. 

What you *don't* see right now is that the dirt is full of carefully-planted radish seeds. Granna, my mother, gave us the gift of Cherry Belle radish seeds this spring. We planted, loved on, and have already harvested some gorgeous radish from this planter! We are on sewing two!

 While we are on the topic of radishes, here is a close-up peek of two of the beauties we already harvested. 

We originally pulled the biggest one and were beside ourselves with delight! haha It was both fat and long!! Little Koala squeaked and squealed, exclaiming a thousand praises over it! haha

This little guy is a spur-of-the-moment purchase and addition to our garden. I was not going to do celery again this year. (I had done it two years ago to magnificent results!)

Celery was off of my to-do list because I wasn't sure if it would grow in a bale and I do not feel like growing it in the ground, as I did before. 

Saturday morning, hubs took the girls to the farmers market and video-called me along for the journey (I've been sick). I laid eyes on this little guy and simply *had* to give him a home!

For now, he is in a planter until I decide what I want to do with him. I am sure to find him a permanent residence soon enough.

On to the ugly. No, really. I understand that this is not a pretty garden bed. haha You have to understand that we threw what was left of a bale in there and it has continued to decompose. In fact, at the center of this 'mess' is nearly pure dirt!

From left to right you see green basil, purple basil, and a variety of curled-leaf parsley. These herbs are growing well and I expect to get to use them a lot. :)

This tall little fella is another lettuce. This is the start of two plants, both a variety of romaine lettuce. 

We have already had some of these and let me tell you, they taste really good! :) They were a bit weak after coming home from the farmer's market, so I made sure to put them into a planter with plenty of dirt, water, and tlc.

Last year, we had several varieties of lettuce. This year, we are at least doubling that amount. I cannot wait to keep planting through the year so that we can continue to have fresh food on the table!! :) Seriously, we so deeply enjoy a season rich with fresh produce!

If you have children or at least have a taste for Honey Nut Cheerios, you may recognize what is in this little potted planter. 

Giraffe was excited to see that Cheerios cares about honey bees! I was only too happy to send out for the free packet of wildflower seeds they offer. 

We waited a couple of weeks and the seeds showed up in the mail! (Unlike the butterfly seeds from last year, which never showed up even after we made a complaint.)

Giraffe planted these and has been seeing to it that they stay watered. They have rewarded her by growing. We cannot wait to see what they are!

There were too many seeds for one planter, so she put them into two. :)

This planter looks like it may not have room enough to hold all of the wee little wild flowers!

Have you done this before? I wonder how many colors and varieties to expect. I planted a packet of wildflower seeds when I was a child or teen. They bloomed, taking over an entire row of our flower bed. 

I am starting to think that we should have given these gals their own flower bed, as well. Who knows, maybe in the future I will grow flowers in bales. I know that other SBG's do this! :)

Last but not least, we have this little gem. :) I got Giraffe some sort of little growing garden in a jar for her birthday fun. You cannot tell it anymore, but she had a little mushroom trinket and some other trinket in it. There are layers of dirt, sand and rocks. Chia seeds were placed top. She soaked the entire thing and BOOM! 

It is fun but in the week or so since this picture, the grass continues to grow, grow, grow. She clips it every day or two and gives it to her crabs. You cannot see any of the trinkets and the entire bottom is one huge maze of roots. It makes a great chia garden container but you really cannot call it a fairy garden or whatever it was supposed to be. haha

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OKAY, I have a lot of plants growing in bales which I have not mentioned. I *will* definitely get to those later! For now, my babies and I are going to go outside. I will soak the garden AND the kids. haha I am still quite sick but I honestly think the sunshine is helping. :) I hope everyone is having a good week. Happy planting! Happy gardening!