Tag: garden

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Getting Back in the Garden

Christine

I got a gorgeous black and blue salvia at Noggle’s Nursery yesterday. It is now the centerpiece of the crescent bed. I also got a couple of smaller blue and white ones to put around it. Someone had been letting their dog pee on the one Swiss chard plant that sort of made it from last summer. It had been intensely interesting to Oli for several weeks, but I eventually pulled it out. It was stunted and didn’t really look nice. Besides, Oliver really enjoyed tearing up the root. That boy does love roots! Anyway, if some rude person is going to let their dog do that, I don’t want any food plants that close to the sidewalk. So where I was going to plant peas, I’ve just put in that row of salvia. Just as well, because it is a little late for peas, and that spot may be too hot and dry for them.

The white cucumber seeds that I planted on Saturday already have their first leaves. They should be ready to plant in just a few more days. When I get the cucumbers planted, then the crescent bed should be finished.

I mostly finished planting the tomato bed last night. I added the four celeriac plants I bought. We are going to give that a try this year. I need to track down some Swiss chard plants. It is so pretty, and I am determined to figure out how to eat it this year. I promised myself that if we don’t eat it this year, I won’t plant it again. It is too pretty not to plant, so I’ll figure out how to prepare and serve Swiss chard.I got one each of blanketflower and melampodium, but I still have room for one more of each. I need something tough right by the door, so if Oli’s rope catches it, the plant will still be okay. I think the dwarf melampodium can handle that. I’d like a red blanketflower, but she only had yellow at Noggle’s.

I’m hoping Lewis puts my squash fence in today- he said he would, but he may run out of time. The plumber is coming again today to fix the hot water heater. Luckily, the whole shebang did not need replaced. It was something to do with a valve, which became blocked. The plumber thinks he can fix it, but if he can’t, they only need to replace this $50 valve. That plus labor, of course. But still way better that a whole new hot water heater.

Anyway, if Lewis gets the squash fence in, then I can plant my yellow squash and zucchini tonight. I didn’t use mom’s seeds. Noggle’s had peat pots for $.99, so I just bought 3 zucchini plants. I know buying plants isn’t as economical as starting seeds, and I feel badly about that this year, but I knew I just didn’t have the ambition and energy to get them started when they needed to be. Next year. I also plan to plant beans from seed and hopefully I can just get them in the ground tonight. Then I’ll pretty much be done. That will feel good.

I’ve given up on planting on the fence line this year, too. I adjusted my carefully thought out plans and cut back a bit. I don’t want to plant more than I can handle. Also, just walking around that side is treacherous. The bed is full of weeds and it stresses Oli out when he can’t see me. Maybe we can get that strip under control this summer, and I won’t have to worry about damaging my veggies. We’ll see.

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Garden Update

Christine
Way back in March I had big dreams and a carefully thought out garden plan. And for the most part, I’ve stuck to that list. Pared down a little here, got a few unplanned purchases, but that is to be expected. I’m glad I went into the nursery with a plan. Sometimes I get in those greenhouses and, I don’t know if it is the heat or the riot of color, or both, but I just get impulsive.

That is one of the things I was really worried about this year. I knew early in the spring I didn’t have quite the gusto I usually do, so managing my energy was really key. I didn’t want to overdo it and plant more than I can care for. That happened last year, but I think that was mainly do to the major life change of starting a new job in July. I was busy and my garden suffered. Most of what we harvested we gave away. I want to avoid that this year. Not the sharing part, but I plan to use as much of what we grow as possible. Plan meals around what will be ripe that night.

I gave away so much zucchini last year. Nearly all of it, and I love zucchini. I have so many great recipes. Not this year. We are planting fewer zucchini plants, but adding a couple of yellow summer squash. And I plan to slice and freeze it.Sometime this winter it occurred to me that I’ve been buying this bag of mixed squash- paying for something that I grew the previous summer and gave away. We love to saute this stuff, it makes a great side dish. I’ve even been known to make a whole bag as a meal for myself.

So, I’m standing there in the grocery store, irritated with myself. And I made this decision. I was going to get a crinkle cutter and freeze my own bags of squash. I scouted the kitchen shops and specialty stores and finally found what I wanted from Oxo Good Grips, and ordered it from Amazon, who else? My only worry is that the squash will freeze together in a big lump. I don’t have room in my freezer to lay the slices out on a cookie sheet for flash freezing. I’ll have to experiment this summer.
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Veggie Dreams and Garden Plans

Christine

This year I’m sticking to the list. No extras, no impulse buys. No growing things we don’t eat. Too much wasted money, time and energy. Let’s see how resolved I am when I’m in the greenhouse, shall we?

The Veg:
-Heirloom tomatoes only this year, varieties to be determined by plant availability
-Sweet Millions cherry tomatoes, a fav
-Chocolate Cherry tomatoes, if I can find a plant
-Cucumbers, only 2 plants, can only eat so many cukes
-Zucchini, 4 plants this year, that’s more than last year, but I plan to slice and freeze for sauteing
-Yellow summer squash, 2 plants, completely new this year, will give color to my saute mix
-Beans, beans, beans, a variety of greens and yellow, couldn’t get enough beans last year and they can always be frozen
-Swiss Chard, because it is so pretty, and with a vow to actually learn to cook it and eat it this year
-Artichokes, an experiment, because we have been buying many jars of artichoke hearts lately
-Bell peppers, a garden necessity, 6 plants because I didn’t get a great yield last year
-Peas, who doesn’t love peas?
-Spinach, because fresh from the garden is the only way to eat it

The Herbs:
-Parsley
-Rosemary, lots for drying, needed in rosemary bread and my best pork roast
-Basil, many varieties
-Thyme
-Oregano
-Summer Savory
-Mint

And some flowers mixed for pretty:
-Sunflowers
-Cosmos
-White Salvia
–Blanketflower
–Melampodium
-Petunias
-Pansies
-Marigolds
–Calendula
-Nasturtium

I’m too tired to try to start a bunch of stuff from seed this year, and mostly I only want a couple of this and a couple of that, so I’m going to buy plants from our favourite nursery, Noggle’s Sweet Meadow Greenhouse in Mechanicsburg.

See? I’ve got all my plans posted on the fridge, including my master list and shopping list.I’ve grouped them into families.

The Heirloom Tomato family.The Cucumber family.
The Zucchini family.The Cherry tomato family.

And that should fill my “flower” beds around the house with useful plants for the summer!

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Garden Evidence

Christine

See? We really did have a garden planted this year, honest. Here was one of my nightly bean harvests. I love, love, love string beans. I will definitely be planting more beans next year.