37 Things: Plant Rhubarb and Kale and Swiss Chard

This item on my list of 37 Things I Want to do Before I Turn 38 was really about getting my vegetable garden in order. I cleaned out the old plot and built new beds. They are woefully small for any sort of exuberant plantings, but they have gotten me off in the right direction.

A few herbs around the yard managed to survive and not need replanting, like this lovely chive.

Here is my kale, looking fabulous. I need to thin some of that out and eat it tomorrow for lunch! I planted the chard seeds at the same time and it is a third the size.
One surprising bonanza crop are the bok choy plants. I will need to thin out the middle one of these tomorrow too.

List of plants planted so far this year:

• bok choy (starts)
• swiss chard (seed)
• kale (seed)
• walla walla onions (starts)
• leeks (seed)
• fennel (seed and start)
• cilantro (from starts from Randy and Shari)
• tomatoes (starts also from Randy and Shari)
• arugula (seed)
• pansy (starts. I want to put these edible flowers onto cupcakes)
• sunflowers (seed. I will transplant these to the front yard)
• rhubarb (starts)
• Japanese eggplant (starts)
• zucchini (starts)
• garlic (starts)
• lavender (seed. These will also get transplanted. I am trying to be cheap this year)

My mint, chives, thyme, and oregano are going strong from last year. I also have some shallots coming back, which is surprising. I lost two rosemary but one managed to survive. And our fig tree is producing two figs! It's taken 2 years to get any and critters might get to them before I do, but I am satisfied I didn't kill the thing.

I know a lot of people in the Pacific Northwest have been complaining about all the rain we are getting but it has been doing my veggies a world of good. We finally turned the heat off this week. Heat on in June is just ridiculous and wrong!