Chard 1 month later

The rainbow chard has grown well in the wet June weather. We even had some for dinner the other night. I plucked every other little plant to give the others more room to get bigger and cooked them up with loads of garlic -tender and delicious.

spring seeds started

After mixing in about 2 yards of compost, we finally get some spring seeds started.
Nantes carrots
Snap peas
Cilantro
Bibb Lettuce
Rainbow Chard
Spinach
went in the ground today. I've laid newspaper down on top of the seeds to keep the hungry birds at bay. I swear there was an entire flock of starlings sitting in the hedgerow waiting for me to finish planting so they could swoop in and eat them up.
I also separated and replanted strawberries, doubled the size of the raspberry bed and thinned out the existing canes to start the new area.

Growing spring vegetables

Despite the cool, wet weather, the spring vegetables were done by early July. The snap peas grew so tall they toppled over. The lettuce, mesclun and mache went to seed.

We've pulled the first round of carrots planted April 5th and ready from 11-13 weeks. There is a second crop of carrots still growing.

I've pulled the snap peas and lettuces. I've replaced the mache with parsnips planted July 3rd, and the snap peas with swiss chard. I'm leaving the lettuce section free to replant with lettuce in late August.

Grubs in the Chard part 3

Suck it grubs! Chard victorious.

Grubs in the Chard part 2

Many grubs have died under the blade of my trowel. I've dug up the wilting chard and picked them off. Dug them out of the soil around the chard too. The chard seems to be recovering!

The outer leaves are wilted and dead, but there is new growth!

Grubs in the Chard

With things finally growing comes the horrible pests that strike them down. After noticing many of the young swiss chard had suddenly gone limp and keeled over, I dug one up and discovered several fat grubs on the roots.

Beneficial nematodes, neem oil, and milky spores can be used to combat grubs in the soil. I dug out tons of them and smashed them, but I'm afraid of the ones I didn't find...

Chard seeds

Swiss chard went in today. Soaked the seeds for about 2 hours first.