Arugula

Yesterday I planted a square foot of arugula (ideally 4 plants) in the middle of A, where I had harvested a collard plant. I added in compost with the seeds. Today it looks like a dog--maybe a brown dog!--had stepped in my just-seeded area. One potential plant was disturbed. I noticed that several broccoli plants have florettes ready to harvest, and I had just cut a couple of generous servings last night.

Sprouts

Beets, spinach, cilantro, and snap peas are all sprouting. All the brussels sprouts are surviving as well. The weather has been mostly cloudy, not too cool, with a few days of sunshine like yesterday.

February

My garden is almost one year old now, so I have decided to chronicle it. There are two raised beds, the one by the fence, and one beside it. Maybe I could call them A and B in that order. In the first couple of seasons (summer and fall, 04), B seemed to do much better than A. I theorized that A was shadier, but Don said there might have been other variables, such as soil.
When I built them last March, I filled them both with the garden soil mix from the dirt place up the road. I believe I started with that soil, straight up, as it was supposed to be rich enough for gardening. As time went along, we lost some enthusiasm for the dirt, which seemed a bit heavy and laden with granite bits.
It wasn't a great year for tomatoes, with more than normal rain through June. I had a couple each of lettuce and spinach, both planted a little late, likewise the snap peas, which were tasty but few in number. Carrots never did anything, nor the onions planted from seed. The pepper plants grew well into fall, with varying crops. I got no more than 3 tiny bell peppers, some serranos, some fine anaheims, and countless Thai peppers. In future, I think I will concentrate on the anaheims, as the most useful. The Thais were beautiful and hot--too hot.
My best crop last year was one I didn't plant--the pumpkins that grew out of the compost. They made long vines and huge leaves, and a total of 7 pumpkins. I loved them so much I didn't want to cook them. I let them sit on the kitchen counter so I could admire them until they rotted. I finally cooked one and made a pumpkin flan from it. The family doesn't care that much for pumpkin as a food anyway.
For fall I put in some new tomatoes. I may have been a little late getting them in, but I got probably as many as I had in the summer. The compost I dug in gave new life to the pepper plants. Duh! I planted some beans and cucumbers from seeds as well. The cukes looked good--well, one did--but produced nothing. Only one bean came up, and the beans were good, just too scarce.
For the winter, I planted 9 each of collards and broccoli from Home Depot. I'd planted some broccoli seed, but only one came up. I added compost, of course. They have been abundant for months now. We've had several meals of broccoli, and most of the plants are working on their second harvest now. I've cut collards whenever I wanted greens, including at Thanksgiving. Recently I've pulled several whole plants to make room for new things. The growth in bed A was somewhat less lush, but is now quite filled out, not skimpy at all.
Now I am starting on the spring season crops. With the beds in place, I can start those things I was late on last year. On 2/5, I planted a whole line of snap peas along the back of B, a square foot of beets in A, spinach and cilantro seeds in A.
They all are starting to sprout. Oh yes, and I put in 9 brussels sprouts plants from HD. They had romaine plants, which I passed up, but since that is Christian's lettuce of choice, I have been thinking of putting them in place of some of the collards.
Over the past couple of weeks, as we have had fresh broccoli and greens, I've been so excited by the possibility of fresh, homegrown veggies at every meal.