Sprouts!

All of the beds that we've direct seeded so far have sprouts in them. For those of you keeping count, that's one week from the time we scattered the seeds on the beds. Not bad, considering the dry week we've had. Here's what we've got so far:

These are the swiss chard sprouts.



For context, this is the swiss chard bed. It is located at the southwest corner of the garden, with the yellow squash and carrots to the right. In the background, you can see cucumbers and cabbage.



These are the beet green sprouts.



This is the beet green bed in context. It is located across from the swiss chard, in the southeast corner of the garden, with the zucchini and more carrots to the left. In the background, you can see cucumbers and cabbage.



They're hard to see, but if you look closely, you'll see little, green, carrot sprouts.



This is the carrot bed in the southwest corner, with the yellow squash in the background, swiss chard to the left, and butternut squash visible in the upper right corner of the photo. There is a matching bed of carrots in the southeast corner of the garden, near the zucchini and beet greens.

We've got some of our soaker hoses laid down, mostly around the perimeter beds. Dave told me about using lawn irrigation hose, which looks like a good idea, considering the potential issues we may have with water pressure. I'm going to talk to our good friend, David, at Lowe's to see if he can help us out. The main issue now is figuring out how to lay out this network of drip irrigation hoses and valves throughout such a large and complex garden. I know what you're thinking: "Why not just get a big sprinkler to cover the whole garden?" Sounds like a simple and cheap solution. But here are the problems with that: First, spraying water over the tops of plants is incredibly inefficient. Much of the water either blows away in the wind or just plain evaporates before it hits the ground. Most of the rest of it lands on the leaves themselves, not the roots, which increases the incidents of leaf rot and a particularly nasty mold that can run rampant throughout a garden. These problems alone can add up to be much less cost effective, when considering the water bill and the amount of personal time spent trimming rotted, moldy leaves from plants. Drip irrigation puts the water right at the roots, which uses much less water and prevents leaf rot and mold. Stay tuned...