Lots of successes (and failures) for first-time gardeners

Like many first-time gardeners, Alison Lazarus has quickly discovered that she may have been a little too ambitious when she was setting up the vegetable beds in her new Harrison garden and planting seed packet after seed packet in May. All that rain we had in June has made for a bumper crop of greens and herbs - and more weeds than she can possibly keep up with.

"I've been harvesting lots of lettuce," she says. "I'm giving it away as fast as I can cut it. I probably planted too much of everything - I should have thinned them more and spaced them farther apart."

Mitch Bernstein, another first-timer, has learned that zucchini plants get really, really big and that peas would be easier to grow if the trellises he set up in his Katonah garden were closer together. "The zucchini is overtaking everything and putting a bunch of other stuff in shade - beets, Brussels sprouts and a full row of carrots, my favorite," he says.

So far, George Mickatavage has only had one casualty in his new Rye garden, a cantaloupe he tried to move.

"I've got seven tomato plants, zucchini, cucumbers, carrots, red beets and a bunch of hot peppers, too, all in a 5-foot-by-12-foot bed," he says. "It all fits and it all looks good."

"It's been a blast," Mickatavage says. "Every day it's been my focus. As soon as I get out of work, I head straight to the garden."

Lazarus says she'll try to be better about sequencing her seeds next year.

"I've learned that I need to stagger my plantings, especially with lettuce," she says. "I also learned that you really have to watch tomato plants. I missed the opportunity to train them the right way."

But she's already begun to harvest some of her cherry tomatoes and the others are coming along just fine, despite the clumsy way they're twisting through stakes and cages.

She and her family have also been enjoying tons of broccoli rabe, radishes and herbs (two kinds of sage and thyme, basil and parsley) and a few strawberries and raspberries. The blueberry shrubs are covered with berries and the squash plants look good, too.

Bernstein is quite pleased with the way his garden is coming along. Here's a recent post from his blog at citycountrycity.blogspot.com:

"The zucchini, squash and a host of heirloom tomatoes are raging along the northern and southern borders of the garden. I'm hoping that the carrots, arugula and radishes don't mind the shade a little bit. The trellises are supporting a couple types of peas and cucumbers, and there are herbs, peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and eggplants chugging along, too. Even the artichokes that I had left for dead seem to have perked up a bit. Keeping my fingers crossed for those guys. So far, the only casualty out there has been my dill plant; it was too fragile for all the rain."

This weekend, he hopes to serve freshly harvested arugula, lettuce and radishes to his houseguests.

Like Mickatavage, he's become a huge fan of gardening. "My wife says, 'If I can't find you in the house, I always know where to look.' I like to go out there and do a little weeding, sort of play with my vegetables. It's the first thing I do every morning - brew a cup of coffee and go see what's going on."

FROM http://lohud.com/