the garden: june 8

welcome to our garden: june edition

front left box:

several tomato plants, with basil in between.  the back left corner is a squash seedling.

i just planted several varieties of lettuce last week and it’s already coming in!

the basil that got hit during a random freeze towards the end of may is trying to make a comeback.

another squash plant.

front right box:

bush beans

Carmen bell pepper.

tiiiny little pepper buds

the first strawberries of the season.

bloomsdale longstanding spinach.  part of our first harvest of the season.

second box, right hand side:

garlic and shallots.  these guys are doing really well.  and i’ve been nibbling at their stems every now and then.  really good.

last box, left side:

potatoes and onions.  i read recently that marigolds planted near potatoes helps ward off bugs that are attracted to the leaves of the potato plant.  even if it doesn’t work, the color is still nice.

some of the oregano i got for free on freecycle.  i decided to pot it in order to contain it better.  oregano is known to be quick growing and invasive if given too much space.

all the seedlings left to transplant.  mostly tomatoes. and really – can you have too many tomatoes?

and growing in the rest of the yard…

last year’s mint – back with a vengence.

also, a little bit of wintergreen.

the two types of sedum from the M.I.L.

the clematis is blooming!  most of the varieties i’ve seen are hot pink, but ours is a very very deep maroon.

the hydrangeas have also started to bud.

the strawflowers are still hanging in there.  no blooms yet though.

so finally, i’m caught up on garden updates.  hopefully i can keep track of everything better from here on out.

they’re here!

i’m torn.

the weather around here has really been teasing us.  bitterly cold and no precipitation, or unseasonably mild and buckets of rain.  then there are the fluke times when all the weather patterns line up correctly and give us snow.  but usually only enough to get our hopes up before tuckering out.  all of this wishy washy, pansy snow has just made me want to be done with winter all together.  yes, i’ve definitely enjoyed snuggling up under blankets, making a batch of soup for dinner, and that cool icy light that only comes with winter – but my definition of winter also includes a couple of days of snow.  of the real deal, more than a dusting, build a snow ramp and sled down it kind of snow.  and since that hasn’t happened, well, if its all the same to you, i’d rather just skip the season and move on to spring.  when all the growing and planting and green stuff happens.

but now the weather’s toying with my emotions again; threatening more than a dusting – threatening even a snow day maybe – and well – like i said, i’m torn.

i’m torn because today the second half of my garden seeds came in and i’m having to make a decision between loving the snow and wanting to get outside in shorts and flip flops and roll around in the dirt.  it’s quite a conundrum.

so while i try to sort out my little dilemma some more, i’ll share the bounty of my mailbox.

start your garden engines

Well we did it.  Wilsie Garden 2K9 is officially in progress.  On Saturday I finally sat down and ordered the seeds for this year’s garden.  We’re pretty much growing everything we did last year (tomatoes, pole beans, zucchini, swiss chard, spinach, bell peppers, and onions)  plus a lot more.  But nothing we can’t handle, I don’t think.  Ross is convinced that we’ll be garden slaves for all of spring and summer, but I think we were pretty realistic with what we chose.

Maybe its the byproduct of living in rural southwest Virginia, or maybe its that Tomko blood finally kicking in, but I am totally enamored with the idea of growing my own food – interesting food (can i describe food as interesting?) and doing it in as natural and economic a way as possible.

last year’s garden

Even the planning of the garden excites me – which plant goes where to get the best results, when can i start it, when can it be transplanted into the garden, and how can i design my garden to fit everything while looking aesthetically pleasing.  you know, the basics.

for the most part i still have no idea what i’m doing, but that’s just more of the fun.  i’ve convinced myself that i’m actually going to keep a garden journal, if for no other reason than to know which parts of this garden business i totally botched and need to improve upon for next year.  we’ll see how well i do with that.

Below is what we’ve finally decided on.  Most everything is self-explanatory, but there are some flashier names like “Horn of Plenty” (yellow squash) and “Banana” (a type of fingerling potato).  All my seeds are from either Pinetree seeds or Baker Creek seeds.

I got a little trigger happy when I bought my Baker Creek seeds, so there’s no screen shot to show, just a list of what I purchased.  The flashy names in this batch are  “Contender”  (a bush bean), “White Scallop” (white summer squash), “Green Zebra,” “German Red Strawberry,” “Carbon,” “Yellow Pear” (types of tomatoes), and “White Sugar Lump” (a type of watermelon).

Item Ref.      Qty.  Description

BN102           1      - Contender (Buff Valentine)
HB103           1      - Lime Basil
HB126           1      - Dill - Bouquet
HB135           1      - Chives - Common
SQ167           1      - Winter Luxury Pie Pumpkin
SSQ107          1      - White Scallop
TG103           1      - Green Zebra
TM128           1      - German Red Strawberry
TP112           1      - Carbon
TY122           1      - Yellow Pear
WM166           1      - White Sugar Lump

so there you have it.  our little garden.

the real work will actually begin around the beginning of march when we’ll plant the tomato seeds and grow them under plant lights.  then there will be either something to plant or transplant every week until roughly mid-may, when the danger of frost is over and things can start being transplanted or directly planted into the garden.  sounds fun, right?