Oh, the garden! It's here and there has been much work done but I haven't chronicled any here until today! Every year I get overwhelmed with how wild the garden is at the beginning of spring until the husband goes in and does some of the bulk work. Then I love being in there and planting and making it look pretty and neat and organized. That sounds very us, doesn't it?
We got a fairly early start doing some work in March during that crazy warm streak and we did start many seeds inside in the basement. But we still didn't get the bulk of it planted outside until the end of May. Since then we've been working on preventing weeds and doing a little bit of harvesting.
Many of the seeds in the basement didn't take but some did. We just don't have a great place in our house for seeds. No direct sunlight anywhere in the main house. We did it under lights but I think it was still too cold down there to be very productive. Next year we have thoughts of some sort of cold cover so we can maybe just start some outside.
Right Boxes
Front box: Sugar Baby Watermelon and Hearts of Gold Cantaloupe
Middle: Celery (from nursery), Carrots (Tendersweet and Danvers), Yellow and Red Bell Peppers, Red potatoes and Yukon Gold potatoes (we got the packs of potatoes from Aldi's of all places for 99 cents on clearance...worth a shot, right?)
Back: Cherry Tomatoes (from the nursery). The whole thing :)
Left Boxes
Front: Broccoli (we have never been successful with broccoli), Marketmore cucumbers, strawberries
Middle: Mixed gourds on the trellis, Yellow Summer Squash, Black Beauty Zucchini
Back: Tomatoes (Roma, Lemon Yellow, Brandwine (all from nursery), and a few mysteries that sprouted up from last years crop!)
Along the Back Fence
Snow Peas, Maestro Peas (not doing well), Spinach (didn't even sprout...), Grand Rapids Lettuce, Ruby Red Lettuce, Parris Island Romaine Lettuce, Walla Walla Onions (from the nursery), Yellow Spanish Onions (sown but not sprouted)
Along the Left and Right Sides
Beans! Bountiful Stringless Snap, Top Crop, Gold Crop, Kentucky Wonder, and Provider
They've been coming up great but the slugs(?) have been working on them...
Along the Front
Corn experimental and yet to even be planted, Lady Girl Lavender, Curled Parsley, Sweet Basil
In front of the fence we hope to put sunflowers soon. Just need to figure out the precautions to take to keep the resident bunny and hens away from them.
We have had huge success letting the grass in the yard grow, mowing it, then raking the hay to spread around the plants. It is so worth the initial work with how well it keeps the weeds out and keeps water in! (And bonus you have a legitimate reason for being lazy with the lawn mowing dutiesl!)
Our zucchini and squash are doing so well so far! Last year we got barely any zucchini. Since this picture, it has taken off and so far we've only seen two cucumber beetles that were the culprit of last year's devastation. Once the flowers bloom, we'll have to be very diligent about squishing duty.
Michael especially enjoys the work and progress of the garden. He can tell you all about what is planted where and how they need to be tended. It's pretty neat.
I tried to get Brian to cut down this sickly non-productive apple tree right in the middle of the garden. But I have been informed that it is the shirt hanging tree. It has one more year to prove itself before my request will be heeded.
We were able to enjoy a tiny strawberry harvest before the birds and slugs got the rest. They're supposed to be ever bearing so we'll see if we get any more this year. Hoping that maybe the blueberries we planted over in the far edge of the yard last year will give us a little love this year.
Hope to give a few more updates as the growth continues!
Happy Saturday!
The garden looks great - I do the same thing with the grass clippings on my garden.
ReplyDeletelooking forward to the updates on the harvests
blessings
Karen
Looks good! I did a garden post today too.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful space you have. Love the giant beds & the grass mulch is so smart. I have a Michael too. here visiting from Small Things. Here's our garden update. http://chocoeyes.blogspot.com/2012/06/garden-update.html
ReplyDelete