Some garden success! And a bit of…reevaluation…

I spent five hours on 5/9/2026 weeding and somehow still feel like I barely made a dent. Still, I was able to confirm growth from several more plants, even if others continue to elude me.

Vegetables I can identify so far: six carrots (not too concerning, since carrots can be reseeded every couple of weeks through July), sixteen potential heads of lettuce, six or seven heads of Swiss chard, four or five heads of arugula, and two corn stalks. I planted two rows of corn earlier than usual because the soil temperature was finally warm enough…or so I thought.

Herbs I can identify: lots of dill, oregano, borage, lovage, lemon balm, and marsh mallow. Oh, and of course the mint I planted in the strawberry pot — the same mint I apparently dig up every single time I weed. -_-

About a week ago, I transferred my Japanese Trifele Black tomatoes into larger pots, and by today they already looked strong enough to plant outside. I planted five of those, along with five Brandywine tomatoes that skipped the intermediate pot stage entirely. I decided not to transplant the Cuore di Bue yet because they still don’t quite have true leaves. Those will probably be ready in another couple of weeks.

Finally, I was also able to transplant the mini bell peppers and the cayenne peppers. Huzzah!

Not everything is going smoothly, though. My zucchini and cucumber starts — which I bought to replace the pickling cucumbers that died — are already struggling with powdery mildew. Since I don’t have a drip irrigation system, these plants need extra attention to keep moisture off the leaves.

One common treatment is mixing 1 tablespoon of baking soda with 1 gallon of water. I applied it with a watering can, although apparently spraying it directly onto the leaves would have worked better.

I also used a vegan disease and bug repellent on the greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, and zucchini. The Swiss chard already has a few holes in the leaves, and I know from previous years that stink bugs absolutely love my squash plants. Turning over a squash leaf and discovering hundreds of stink bugs underneath is not an experience I care to repeat. No thanks.