I've been so busy lately that it's been hard to keep up with all of the gardening that I've been doing on the weekends and spare minutes when I can.  A quick summary:  The garden fence and gate are finished.  The garden beds are nearly full.  There is a new west bed, that will have corn in it as soon as I can plant it.

Today we'll take a look at the south bed.

This picture was taken back at the beginning of the month.  Just in the 2 intervening weeks, the lettuce, arugula and spinach in the foreground have exploded.

I've also got a few other plantings in the bed that haven't received much mention before.  A few of them I picked up at the herb festival a couple of weeks ago.  For example, the habenero and squash both came from there.

Both of these are marked as being planted on May 6, but really, the seeds must have been started much earlier.  In any case, they are healthy and growing well.  The habenero is slower to grow, but I think as the summer really rolls in, it will do well.

At the Saturday morning tailgate market I picked up a couple of Garden Peach tomatoes.  I love these plants.  They are really prolific, have a great flavor, and are just the right size for a quick snack. 

I did a little poking around on Wikipedia, and discovered that it's not even the same species as your standard garden tomato.  Garden Peach are sessiliflorum, while your standard tomato is lycopersicum.  Whaddaya know?  In any case, they are rich in Iron and vitamin B5.  So, they are good for you too.  Eat up.

My 7 year old, Renny, has really become interested in all of this gardening, so he decided to grow a watermelon.  It's in the south bed too.  It sure is going to be crowded in there in a couple of months.

And there are radishes.  This one seems to be doing pretty well.

I've also got a couple of other things growing in the bed: a yellow squash, avon spinach, and bok choy which is doing great!  But those are plants for another posting with updated photos. 

I'll be interested to see if there are any yield differences between this bed - which we did not double dig - and the north bed, which we did.  Oh - yeah - the north bed is also fodder for another post since we planted it last weekend. 

So far, with the early stuff, the garden is turning out well.  We've had a lot of salads with the spinach, arugula, and oak leaf lettuce.  And they just keep producing.  Last weekend we gave a shopping back full of greens to a friend and we have plenty left. 

Tonight we focused on the arugula entirely.  Lightly sauteed with olive oil, salt, fresh oregano and chives (from the herb garden), and cooked with local farm fresh eggs and goat cheese.  Local toast on the side.  Yum!