Garden Update

I've got everything planted now, including some strawberries back near the catnip. The peas have not made it up yet, but they were two inches deep, so that's not a huge surprise. The corn isn't up either, but it just got planted this morning. The radishes are coming up nicely (including some volunteers from the radishes I let go to seed last year), as is the salad-mixture next to them. The carrots are not yet up, despite being the shallowest seeds planted. I also have a garlic plant this year. When I went to clean up the garden this spring, I found a garlic clove that I must have just thrown out into the garden, and it had a little sprout on it. So I planted it. It's got a rather impressive set of green stems coming off from it now, so I presume it's growing well.

Word of advice: never, ever, plant apple-mint in a garden, unless you plan on having a garden that is nothing but apple-mint. When I pulled the weedmat up, it had at least two dozen runners growing off from the base, all putting up itty-bitty applemint plants all along their length. I think I've got them all out now. I threw the remnants over by the black raspberry plants, which were also trying to take over last year. I figure they can fight it out. If the mint can survive there, it's fine with me. I just don't want it in the garden, taking up space better filled by vegetables.

The lemon-mint and the catnip, however, have not tried to take over the garden. The lemon-mint has put out exactly one runner, and one new plant. That's a growth rate I can deal with. The catnip hasn't tried to spread, other than bushing out. It's more than 2 feet tall now. I've got a basket around it so that my cats (and any neighborhood cats who wander in) can't eat it down to the root. I think that right now, that wouldn't be an issue, as they aren't even eating it back to the basket, but when it was first greening up in the spring, I think they might have tried.

ADDENDUM: One pea sprout has become visible. And the catnip has sent out at least two runners. The cats promptly ate both. This is exactly why the main plant has a basket around it.