Lettuce and Mint

I am still waiting to transplant the tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants and the gourds. The weather is still cool for these heat loving plants. I was busy throughout the week and today noticed the larger leaves of the lettuce in the planter box on the patio. So is the mint which has over 4" leaves! This the first time we had mint with such large leaves. Probably this was due to the compost tea and fish fertilizer-that's my straight forward interpretation.

Meanwhile the butternut squash has sprouted. Two of the four seedlings died. This was due to exposure to cold as I kept them on the patio on a sunny day but it was the cold wind which did the damage.

More herbs,...

Here are some more herbs which we are growing - Bay leaf

Since Bay leaf prefers well drained and moist soil I transplanted it in a ceramic pot adding a few pebbles at the bottom, home made compost, peat moss & garden soil. I inserted a watering bulb to keep the soil moist. Here's some good information which I found at http://theherbgardener.blogspot.com/ .

The Mint was gifted to us last year from a family friend who are avid gardeners themselves. Since Mint spreads wild on ground it was planted in a planter box. During the winter we didn't bother to take care of it as it is cold hardy and in spring a little tilling of the soil and a few teaspoons of blood meal did wonders to the plant. Since blood meal contains Nitrogen it helps in building green foliage.

Lastly we have Oregano and Thyme both of which are cold hardy. Since Thyme prefers alkaline soil I mixed garden soil, peat moss and wood ash (from the fire place).