Garden Update

Twenty-five days ago, we transplanted the plants that we had begun from seed indoors: bell peppers, tomatoes, and leeks. We also planted 100 bare-root strawberries that we bought from a local nursery.
Twenty-four days ago, we direct-sowed more seeds into our raised garden beds: lettuce, carrots, green beans, shell peas, beats, and more leeks.
A few days later, Mom planted 13 bare-root asparagus plants.
On May 9, we planted seven tomato plants that I bought in case our started-from-seed bushes didn't hang on.
About ten days ago, I planted more carrots and Mom planted okra, as well as some marigold seeds around the tomato plants.
This past Saturday, I planted another 1/2 row of "heatwave-proof" lettuce and another 1/2 row of carrots (by staggering the plantings, we hope to have a fairly steady harvest over several weeks).

Everything is coming along so well! It's too early still to know how good the harvest is going to be, but it looks pretty promising... I hope I'm not "jinxing" myself, but saying so. ;)

Allow me give you a tour about the place... :)

Asparagus poking through the ground...
Our carrots are still really little, but starting to get the characteristic "frilly" leaves.
Our bush beans are growing like crazy! They're bigger every day!
Leeks are very slow growers. They take about 5 months from planting to harvest...
I'm so excited about our lettuce! It's still relatively tiny, but also beginning to get the characteristic look for lettuce leaves. Ah... salads fresh from the garden. Yum!!
Our okra plants are doing splendidly as well. We'll need to thin them out a little bit soon.
My lovely lavender... I really like it. The fragrance is unbelievably strong and I'm looking forward to making a couple of sachets with the blooms this summer.
Our irises are at their peak. :)
Our tomato plants are looking healthy and growing pretty well. We need to get tomato cages soon!
Our strawberry bed is thriving. We've been pinching the flowers off the plants so far, to allow the plants' energy to go into getting bigger instead of producing fruit... but fresh strawberries are definitely a treat we're all looking forward to!
Beets (left) and peas (right)... The beets are about ready to be thinned and I thinned out the peas a little bit a couple of days ago.
Thank you so much for taking a virtual stroll through the garden with me. :) With a little luck, in a couple of months, I'll be able to post pictures of the fruits of our labors!

Happy Memorial Day!