Urban gardening 2010: Beets and Carrots (May and June)

The beets and carrots went in on April 5th and we are definitely seeing growth!

Early May

Mid May- we had to thin them out slightly.

 Late May- wow!

 Early June- significant growth- we can't even see the dirt anymore! 
Hope we thinned out enough to let them grow properly...

We couldn't wait anymore- in mid June we had to pull up a beet and carrot to see if they were ready or not... They were a little soft and definitely too small- so sad! 

 The first beet! (Mid June)

The first carrot (Mid June)

We've been noticing a couple of these beautiful yellow, green, and black caterpillars on the carrots. After some research, we found out that they will become Black Swallowtail butterflies! 

On the one hand, we'll hopefully have these beautiful butterflies around, but on the other, they are ravaging the carrot stems and leaves!

Second carrot.... it's tiny, but perfect!! (June 20th)

Notice the completely chewed up stem between the carrot and the caterpillar- he's moved onto the next one!