Summer Garden 2020 Update

A numbest of weeks back, we posted a KidsTalk video about starting our 2020 vegetable garden. Jay and Breya, started our seeds using Jiffy's Professional Greenhouse starter kits. It's something we do every year with the hopes of producing some yummy vegetables to enjoy and share.

Over the course of the last couple of weeks, we have posted photos to our social media channels sharing some of the progress. But we realized we haven't shared any updates here on the blog. So let me take a few minutes to share a few pictures and some updates from the last couple of weeks.

We started with six Jiffy Professional Greenhouse started kits. I (Jay) love using these kits because of how easy it is to start your plants. Submerge the pods in water and let sit for about five to eight minutes. The pods will absorb the water and expand, creating the perfect starter soil for your seeds.

We filled three trays as part of our KidTalk vlog. We planted an assortment of vegetables to get things going. We listed all of the seeds in our blog post. You can read the blog post here: Time to Start the Garden.

It only took a little over a week for some of the seeds to begin sprouting. Some of the seeds took quickly and grew pretty fast. This picture above was taken about 3 weeks after we started the seeds.  If you look closely, you'll see that some of the pod look empty. I used seeds that were over 2 years old. I don't know how long seeds last, but you can tell, that some of them didn't take. But for the seeds that sprouted, well you can see for yourself.

As the seedling grew, we transferred the pods to larger peat cups. These are some of our heirloom tomatoes. 

The time came to move the plants to the ground. We had already planted our Alaska peas and our snap peas in window boxes. At the time of this picture, the peas were still a little sparse. I picked up some cinderblocks from Lowes and some soil to create this raised bed. We planted peppers and broccoli, which we picked up from a local nursery.

We also picked up some herbs from the nursery. I had seeds from a couple of years ago, tried to grow them, but wasn't very successful. So this year I decided to just start with nursery plants. Because we plan to keep the herbs going for as long as possible, we planted the herbs in pots that we can move indoors.

Since most of the seeds that sprouted were tomatoes, carrots, lettuce, and peas, I decided to pick up some some peppers.

I took a few pictures of the garden this past week. You can see the difference in plants.
​The peas are doing awesome. The peppers have more than doubled in size, and have begun flowering and producing peppers.

The herbs are also doing great. We have already started clipping some of the herbs to use and dry.
If you look at the picture, you'll notice our green onions. I started them from clippings. One week in a small cup of water and they're ready to be planted. They have done phenomenal.

Overall, I am super happy with this summers garden. Everything seems to be doing well.
I will post a few more pictures in about a week or so. By then, I might have some pea pods or peppers to share.

Check back soon.

- the higham family -
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