If you are a gardener or grower of any sort, you should post your #gardenjournal with the other green thumbs here. If you do that, you might also want to hit up this post (https://hive.blog/hive-140635/@gardenhive/have-you-got-your-hive-garden-footer) to get your very own footer banner for your garden journal!

It has been a long sunny month since my last #hivegarden update so you can expect some growth.

# On the Last Episode

Last episode, we had just finished preparing the garden boxes and planting all of our seedlings.

Since then it has been a slow rise in temperatures ranging from cool to friggin' hot with plenty of sunshine and a little rain. The grasses have grown up and things are starting to grow! 

Each of the tomato plants purchased as seedlings from the nursery are doing well. A couple in the front row seem to be thriving a little more and there are even little buds signaling the first tomatoes of the season. I should prune all of the first buds to encourage more plant yield but will leave one or two just to have a few early ones.

I am a sucker and picked up a few more garden gnomes because my better half likes them. I picked this one because it has solar powered led eyes that I thought might be funny peering at you from the garden during the night time.

Some squash and zucchini will have a bit more light this year because of the tree I took down. That and the companion flowers we planted to attract more pollinators might mean for even more veggies this year.

I have had my challenges with cucumbers and pickles over the years. Some were eaten by birds as sprouts. Others just didn't have enough sun or were challenged by other plants crowding them. This year, we are off to a great start with varieties from short pickling cucumbers, to medium snackers to slicers and English cucumbers. Some calendula planted a little late as edible flowers that help attract pollinators with similar yellow flowers.

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Another gnome is seen tending to my peppers that are back in their original box. Mild sweet bell and ornamental peppers to the standard jalapeno, a bit hotter with habaneros and the yellow one is a Carolina Reaper. Looking for another summer of jalapenos on everything and a bumper crop of heat for another year of crazy hot sauce.

Long green beans did very well a couple years ago with a large harvest over a full month and a half. I am hoping the new sunlight and a forest of bamboo will guide them up onto the fence where all they will have to battle is the morning glory vines.

The surprise migration of my @lynds lupins seems to be working well. A dozen flower towers so far and I will forgive them stealing a bit of sun from my strawberry patch. The pollinators love them and they are known to draw nitrogen from the air and move it to the soil which is beneficial for all the plants. I will harvest as many seeds as I can and transplant them to the butterfly garden next year.

My mixed lettuce is growing very well despite being in medium security prison. I have rabbits sharing our yard with us and I am trying to make it as inconvenient as possible for them to steal all the salad for themselves. So far so good.

I have a row of celery this year for a change. I am not a huge consumer of it but perhaps fresh, straight from the garden will make it even better for salads and snacks.

More to get into next edition but we have a few herbs in planters going too. This is your standard parsley and we also have dill (for the pickles!) chives, oregano, basil, and plenty of mint. The next phase will be a forest of flowers and hanging baskets to complete the garden. I wait on those because there are fantastic end of spring sales I love to take advantage of.

Cheers to all the Hive Gardeners growing and sharing food.

This is the second chapter of the 7th season of the Pickleman Family Garden. Almost ready to plant for a long warm season with 1 less tree to block the sunlight.

Mom started me along my path of growing stuff when I was a kid. Motivated by so many blockchain blogging gardeners, I figured I would plant and share and learn as I reclaim as much grass space as I can. It has turned out to be a fruitful experience and I hope to inspire you to sow and grow no matter what your location or experience level is.

Guilty as charged.

# What's growing in your #hivegarden?