Garden Lifestyle Challenge: Edible update

It was a slow start for growing edibles this past spring, with rainy cold April days. The crops that were able to be harvested included my small patch of ramps (but I opted to leave them so they could continue to mature and multiply for one more year), my Egyptian walking onions and my rhubarb. Both the onions and the rhubarbs are good for adding to dishes, and I'm hoping to utilize the rhubarb in a pastry confection soon.

Given that I haven't been utilizing my perennial edibles yet, I'm so glad that I started planting in the raised bed in my driveway. This week, I couldn't stop photographing the edibles that are growing in my Eco Garden System. I am really happy with how they are doing, and this week I'll even be able to start harvesting the lettuce growing in there!

This raised container garden has a water reservoir underneath separated by their (patented) Air Gap process – a band of air that exists between the soil platform and the water reservoir. This combo means larger roots (I tested it last year with celery plants I grew in the Eco Garden System and fabric grow bags).

This year, the plants have absolutely flourished since I was able to start planting about a month ago. Right now I have lettuce near maturity that I bought as small plants from the garden center; broccoli plants that I grew from seed under my grow lights; johnny jump ups that I grew from seed in February; celery plants that I bought from the garden center; and various low-growing snap peas that I direct sowed into the garden at the end of April. I have also directly sown Touchstone beets, which are beginning to appear.

I uncovered my broccoli when I took photos so you could see how well it is doing. Broccoli is a heavy feeder plant, so I made sure to add lobster compost to the Eco Garden System before planting. I have covered it with a floating row cover to keep the cabbage white butterflies from laying eggs on it.

Last year was the first time I started growing edibles in my Eco Garden System, and in turn for trying out the product I agreed to write sponsored posts on my progress. I have continued to write about this product this year because I really do enjoy using it, and now I consider it an essential part of my edible footprint. It has a permanent place in my driveway, a previously unusable spot for growing anything on my property.

Bonus: This year I am able to offer Frau Zinnie readers a discount on their own Eco Garden System:

Other edible news
I have begun removing perennials in my front garden bed to make room for "decorative" edibles. This will be a true experiment because about a week ago we had a new bunny visitor in the garden, but I haven't seen him since so I am not sure if he moved on or not. My plan is to include Swiss chard, kale and beets in the front design. In other exciting news, thanks to the recent Garden Bloggers Fling I also learned how Swiss chard can be used as thriller in a container planting. I'll be sharing that on the blog soon, too.

My tomato seedlings are slowly growing. I started them much later than I had planned to this year, but I think they will catch up fairly quickly.

I'll be sharing more updates on the Garden Lifestyle Challenge as the growing season progresses. I also have a fun feature in the works thanks to my friend and local trainer who demonstrated how to garden without causing injuries.

What edibles are you growing this season? I'd love to hear about them in the comments section below!