Waiting and Watching

I'm sitting near my garden on new patio furniture. It's sunny, breezy and cool - but not too cool. It's my favorite weather. I have a cup of hot coffee and I'm listening to birds chirp, the wind chime in our sun porch, and the low, sad howl of a lonely neighborhood dog.

We've progressed in the weeks that have passed. We now have a wooden table and chairs, stepping stones and wood chips between the raised beds. The soil around the sun porch has been tested, replenished, mixed and fertilized to prepare for the home of tomatoes and herbs, which have also been planted.

The short-lived spring blossoms of our azaleas, lilacs, tulips and daffodils have passed, but the garden has rapidly grown. The two-inch broccoli plants I purchased about six weeks ago have grown into large leafy masses, towering over everything.

After slowly watching the progress of the indoor seedlings, I'm surprised every day to walk out to the garden to see the peas, beans, swiss chard, kale and carrots planted by seed in the garden to rise up and expand each and every day. The lettuces on the other hand, have been slow. Really slow. After nearly two months, I have just a few leaves! My kohlrabi plants look remarkably like the kale, which I've planted right next to one another.

The companion herbs and flowers in the raised beds have also taken off. I had to pull out one of the nasturtium plants because it was taking over the space for my kohlrabi. The marigolds consistently bloom and offer a shock of orange in the otherwise sea of green. The rosemary grows, very slowly and steady – I'm happy to have several plants for clipping.

The potted plants are also doing well. I have green, red and yellow bell-pepper plants in a pot each, which are starting to bloom.

A few of the indoor seedlings didn't make it – the chives I tried never sprouted. I think it may have been too cold. My purple basil, which I was really excited to have, sprouted but then petered off and died once they had a few leaves. The coleus seedlings made it but after nearly four months are still tiny! It's hard to imagine them as large leafy shade plants yet this season.

Last weekend I went back to my seed packets and planted a second phase of seedlings. More carrots, lettuces (since the first set wasn't so successful) and beans. I also started more purple basil and chives in pots – we'll see if I can get anything out of them this time!

I'm waiting and watching for the first harvest.