Lettuce is the first thing I plant, been eating it every night along with Kale and spinach. Today was a busy day getting the lawn mowed, weeding the garden and planting another batch of lettuce where the radishes where that got pulled today. The Chicken coop is one step forward, got the post holes dug for the footings for the coop and got the run put together using 1 1/2 inch PVC pipe. Moved a ton of rocks that we dug from the run and the post holes. Can;t wait til we have the girls.

Picked lettuce, kale and several herbs tonight! Have baby tomatoes, but the cukes seem to be slow this year. Not even vine-ing yet. Pepper plants small too.

Janice I hear ya on the peppers, still small, not enough sun and warm temps. My Tia Hot peppers on the other hand which are still really small and very bushy have tons of peppers on them, the banana peppers are growing but no peppers yet. Cucumbers are just now starting to vine. My peas are 7 foot tall and hit the top of the fence and are just now flowering.

I have one pea plant flowering....really? Wake up guys! My kale is almost large enough to pick, but my lettuce is small......we need warm nights, & are not getting them.....

planted my radishes and spinach. it's supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow. we'll see if they get drowned

So having never grown kale before, and knowing that it prefers cool weather, after I pick the leaves, do I leave the plant for a fall crop, or is it kaput?I have a lovely plant on my porch that is so pretty, hate to pick it! Then have 3 plants of another variety in the community garden.

Janice I grow tons of Kale between Spring and Fall. I start picking the Kale leaves as soon as they are 1-2 inches. The tender leaves are delicious raw. I like the small leaves for making Kale Chips. Picking the small leaves for chips is so much easier than picking the larger leaves because then I don't have to remove the center rib before cooking the chips. This year I'm growing two different types of Kale (Russian Red and Dwarf Blue).

If I continue to pick the Kale everyday the crop continues to grow all summer long and into the fall. I leave one bed of Kale all winter long covered which I pick until the snow pack covers it, The Dwarf Blue Kale always winters over for me and in the spring it pops up vigorously with growth and I allow it to go to seed which I collect for the next planting season.

Thanks, Karen...I was going to yank mine out!

Thanks Karen! That was very helpful! I'm pretty sure the one on my porch is Russian Red (sister gave it to me, she threw out the tag when up potting), and the ones in community garden are a smaller, light green (? blue) variety, grown by a local agricultural school. (again, no tags)
The community garden is locked up in the fall, and the town won't open it til the end of May, in spite of the past 2 years, our trying to educate the decision makers, who are not gardeners. So not sure what to do in fall. Bring them all home, or put them all in garden and hope for a late spring crop?

Janice two years ago my son and I grew five long flower planters of Kale in the mini greenhouse I have on the unheated back porch with Kale just so we could make chips during the winter. We managed to keep picking Kale through to the end of Feb when the temps just bottomed out into the single digit numbers. I've also been known to grow Kale in our small bathroom and my sons bedroom on the window sill during the winter. The key is to seed heavily and keep them well watered.

My two cats also love to eat Kale. If I give them Kale and fresh catnip side by side they always chose to eat the Kale and then roll on the catnip leaves. I also puree Kale and canned pumpkin and then dehydrate it and give it to my dogs as treats.

Karen! You are now my go-to Kale guru!!! Great ideas!
Ummm....ever try eating those dog treats? Might be tasty!

They sound awesome! Jan, hard to pick kale if the garden is locked! Moving it to planters sounds like a plan....

My kale is large enough to pick ....will try some today.....lettuce is still very small.....tomatoes are getting large....can't believe I will have them so early....today's heat should help them & the peppers, & my lone okra plant!

Just picked my first round of Peas. They didn't make it into the house, Ate everyone I picked. Have 18 tomatoes the size of golf balls. The cucumbers have started climbing up the netting. All the spinach bolted these last two days that I wasn't able to pick because of work. Sunday I'll plant more in the back of the garden.
Picked my second batch of Rhubarb. Hopefully I'll make a few Rhubarb crumb on Sunday, it's too hot to bake today.
I'm suddenly under Chipmunk attack, traps are all out. Darn things love to dig in the garden as well as trip me just getting out the door.

Hurray for the peas and green tomatoes set. I have not counted how many green tomatoes I have set but it is a fair amount. Can't wait for tomatoes.

About the same for tomatoes and cukes--looooove rhubarb crumb/crisp! Had an awesome recipe for it years ago that always came out perfect, but I lost it.

My favorite way of eating rhubarb is to pick a stalk, trim it, wash it, & dip it into Kosher salt & eat it.....have been doing that since I've been a tyke in my Grandma's garden......

Backyard veggie area after I weeded and mulched today. I have tomatoes and summer squash. Also cucumbers that you can't see from this angle.

Nice garden!!! Seems like it was a just a very short time ago we were all complaining it was too cold to plant, or even leave our seedlings out on porches at night!

Rita, your garden does look neat! Yesterday I thinned carrots & beets, staked & tied my tomatoes....today I'm planting more green beans & hoeing .....want to take advantage of the rain coming in.....