I haven't made the time to write a blog entry lately; I should remedy that, if I'm going to stick to this. Nothing particularly exciting has actually happened yet, though. Right now everything is in anticipation of building the square foot bed (tomorrow, if it doesn't rain too much) and moving some plants outside.
I have started my tomato seeds, all five varieties, though I've no idea where I'll put them all. The pepper seedlings have come up, too, and the cats are chewing the onions to death. I haven't been able to keep them out of the office (where the seedlings are) with any great success, yet. I did buy some cat grass of some sort or another today while we were out getting vermiculite for the garden beds, so hopefully they'll chew on that soon instead.
The birds are back, though. They're flocking to the little suet feeder I have, and I think I'd like to put a bird bath out front as well as perhaps a few more feeders scattered around in back. I don't want to end up attracting them to the vegetable garden and have them eat all my tomatoes, though. Tomatoes are all for me. Still, it's nice to hear them singing again, and the cats are fascinated. I saw a birdbath I liked at TSC today for about $40... maybe a birthday gift, I hope. Though I've also asked for pruning shears and nice gardening gloves. Hmm.
Showing posts with label square foot. Show all posts
Showing posts with label square foot. Show all posts
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Seedlings getting in shape
I was, to be honest, a little hesitant that starting seeds indoors would work out for me at all. I was kind of convinced the cats would eat them, or I would under- or over-water them, or that they would somehow fail to sprout at all. But right now, many of them are starting to look like the grown-up plants they will become, and I'm very proud. The most startlingly delightful surprise was checking in this morning and seeing that the one of the parsley seedlings had developed a leaf that's actually, well, parsley-shaped. It kind of looked like it might've been thinking about becoming parsley-shaped yesterday, but overnight it just magically transformed itself into something recognizable.
The other plants I started back at the tail end of February are looking good, too. The basil has developed its second set of leaves, and they're like little tiny pesto components already. The metamorphosis wasn't nearly as dramatic, but it's there. I transplanted one of the seedlings into a larger pot, the one it will hopefully stay in; it's under the lights, still, but as the days get longer and warmer I plan to transfer it to the kitchen windowsill. The peppermint seedlings are so tiny they're barely visible (in fact, I can't really see them in the photo below) but they're there, with their cotyledon leaves and a pair of real leaves. The onion stalks are growing thicker, to the point where I start to worry they may be too crowded until I can get them outdoors, but then I remember they don't put energy into building their bulbs until light and temperature tell them to do so.
You can see there, too, a recycled mushroom box; I punched some holes in the bottom with a chopstick (egads, what an awful sound that made) and filled it with seed starting mix, then planted jalapenos on one side and sweet red peppers on the other. Unfortunately I forgot to label which side is which, but as long as I get one plant from each side into the garden I know I'll have both. They were just started on the 13th of March, and I hear pepper seeds can be a long time in germinating.
There's also a Ziploc bag, which I do not find at all aesthetically pleasing, but I wanted to grow some lettuce indoors and it seems this is a good method. Essentially, I filled the bag 4" deep with potting soil, cut the corners off at the bottom, then watered the bejeebus out of the soil. I let it drain so it wasn't just straight mud, then tossed in three lettuce seeds and sealed the bag except for 1" along the zipper. The seeds sprouted within 2 days, but I saw signs of mold at the base so I opened the bag up. They seem to be doing quite well and with luck we should be eating some lettuce within three weeks. One of the little guys seems to have established himself sideways in the bag, and I doubt he'll make it, but I haven't plucked him out yet. I figured I'd see what happens.
Audrey, the cat pictured basking in the fluorescent lighting, seems to have developed some kind of affection for the plants. Whenever I water them or otherwise tend to them or just sit and look at them, she has to join me, and often meows at me (she's a talker for sure). She has also taken to curling up under the seed trays; really, who needs a heating mat when you've got a heating cat?
I also read on a forum that blowing on and brushing (i.e. petting) your seedlings is a good idea to help make them strong. So I've set up a small desk fan about three feet away from them, and I turn it on low every couple of hours for about 20 minutes to simulate a breeze. Audrey does a good job of sniffing at and "petting" them, but I touch them sometimes too, not least because it's just fun. I don't know why I never read about or thought of this before, but it certainly seems like it will help the plants to prepare for the Big Move Outdoors later in the season.
The other plants I started back at the tail end of February are looking good, too. The basil has developed its second set of leaves, and they're like little tiny pesto components already. The metamorphosis wasn't nearly as dramatic, but it's there. I transplanted one of the seedlings into a larger pot, the one it will hopefully stay in; it's under the lights, still, but as the days get longer and warmer I plan to transfer it to the kitchen windowsill. The peppermint seedlings are so tiny they're barely visible (in fact, I can't really see them in the photo below) but they're there, with their cotyledon leaves and a pair of real leaves. The onion stalks are growing thicker, to the point where I start to worry they may be too crowded until I can get them outdoors, but then I remember they don't put energy into building their bulbs until light and temperature tell them to do so.
You can see there, too, a recycled mushroom box; I punched some holes in the bottom with a chopstick (egads, what an awful sound that made) and filled it with seed starting mix, then planted jalapenos on one side and sweet red peppers on the other. Unfortunately I forgot to label which side is which, but as long as I get one plant from each side into the garden I know I'll have both. They were just started on the 13th of March, and I hear pepper seeds can be a long time in germinating.
There's also a Ziploc bag, which I do not find at all aesthetically pleasing, but I wanted to grow some lettuce indoors and it seems this is a good method. Essentially, I filled the bag 4" deep with potting soil, cut the corners off at the bottom, then watered the bejeebus out of the soil. I let it drain so it wasn't just straight mud, then tossed in three lettuce seeds and sealed the bag except for 1" along the zipper. The seeds sprouted within 2 days, but I saw signs of mold at the base so I opened the bag up. They seem to be doing quite well and with luck we should be eating some lettuce within three weeks. One of the little guys seems to have established himself sideways in the bag, and I doubt he'll make it, but I haven't plucked him out yet. I figured I'd see what happens.
Audrey, the cat pictured basking in the fluorescent lighting, seems to have developed some kind of affection for the plants. Whenever I water them or otherwise tend to them or just sit and look at them, she has to join me, and often meows at me (she's a talker for sure). She has also taken to curling up under the seed trays; really, who needs a heating mat when you've got a heating cat?
I also read on a forum that blowing on and brushing (i.e. petting) your seedlings is a good idea to help make them strong. So I've set up a small desk fan about three feet away from them, and I turn it on low every couple of hours for about 20 minutes to simulate a breeze. Audrey does a good job of sniffing at and "petting" them, but I touch them sometimes too, not least because it's just fun. I don't know why I never read about or thought of this before, but it certainly seems like it will help the plants to prepare for the Big Move Outdoors later in the season.
Monday, March 3, 2008
They're up!
I checked the seedling flats tonight and o! exciting day! Some of them have poked their heads above the surface! The basil has actually unfurled its wee little cotyledon leaves.
See him? The onions and chives are as yet just bent stems, heads down in the soil, but they'll probably join the party soon. The parsley and mint don't seem to have joined the party as yet.
I also got my copy of The New Seed Starter's Handbook in the mail today. It's got rather more content than I'd expected, and I've been happily reading along. Based on my reading, I think I'm going to start some pepper seeds tomorrow, since they can take a while to germinate.
Meanwhile, I'm going to continue admiring my little sprouts, and try to make a schedule for planting their summer neighbors. Oh, and for getting them all out into the yard; there's no bed awaiting them just yet.
See him? The onions and chives are as yet just bent stems, heads down in the soil, but they'll probably join the party soon. The parsley and mint don't seem to have joined the party as yet.
I also got my copy of The New Seed Starter's Handbook in the mail today. It's got rather more content than I'd expected, and I've been happily reading along. Based on my reading, I think I'm going to start some pepper seeds tomorrow, since they can take a while to germinate.
Meanwhile, I'm going to continue admiring my little sprouts, and try to make a schedule for planting their summer neighbors. Oh, and for getting them all out into the yard; there's no bed awaiting them just yet.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
It is I, Captain Vegetable
In mid-February it seems like there's all the time in the world before I need to worry about setting plants into the ground, since everything is covered in a blanket of snow right now. So I've been procrastinating a little on actually finalizing what I want to grow. But last night I was reading Square Foot Gardening and I took a look at the schedule for starting seeds indoors, and realized I'm almost behind already.
So it's time to get down to business and decide what I actually want to grow. The time for idly perusing the seed catalogs has come and gone; I need to sort out my budget and my desires and get my hands on the beginnings of this summer's food supply. Especially the onions; I somehow didn't think about the fact that they are extraordinarily slow to grow from seed. I don't want to jump in half-cocked, either, so I need to figure out what I'm going to do about providing light for the seedlings I start indoors. My husband has a special lamp he uses for painting miniatures, and I'm considering appropriating it. I'm also wondering if compact fluorescent bulbs work. That's gone onto the research list for tomorrow.
It's exciting to decide what I want to grow. Today I'm not making a final decision on any specific varieties or sources, so it's not stressful at all, just fun. I have a pretty good idea of what vegetables and herbs I actually use and which tend to sit in the vegetable bin until they move along to the compost pile, so I'm basing my decisions largely on that knowledge. And so, below, my notes to myself (and to you) about what will be living in my backyard vegetable square this year. I've got some more basic information in a spreadsheet I'll probably post at a later point, once I get the kinks ironed out, since I think it might be helpful to other folks too.
Tomatoes: At the top of the list, and out of alphabetical order, because having easy access to good tomatoes is - if I'm being honest - my primary motivation for growing any kind of edible garden at all. I'd like to grow three varieties. One paste type, for canning and freezing to use in salsa, chili and tomato sauces; one good slicing variety to sit around and eat with some salt until I feel sick, to be repeated again the next day; and another spot reserved for whatever type catches my eye. I'm not actually a huge fan of baby (cherry, grape, etc.) tomatoes so this will probably be a medium-sized type that's not as great for eating plain but which will be good for salads and fresh cooking purposes. I can never quite bring myself to use a beefsteak tomato for anything besides near-immediate slicing and chowing. It's probably unreasonable to grow more than three types both because of space limitations and because Zack doesn't actually like tomatoes, so I need to exercise some restraint, here. I plan to start these from seed indoors, so I can grow more exciting varieties than what's available at the local garden centers (oh, wow, more Sweet 100s, never seen those before!) - I hope it actually works. My dad always had great success starting his own plants from seed, so maybe I'll call him and pester him with a lot of questions.
The rest, vegetables first, then herbs:
Beans: I mean to grow beans to eat fresh as well as some to leave on the vines to dry. I love dried beans. They're beautiful to look at (if I ever get around to posting pictures, you'll notice I tend to use my food as home decor as well), amazing to feel, and also delicious. And good for you. I've never dried my own beans before so I admit to having some hesitation here but really, how hard can it be? I'm looking for a variety that can fill both roles but will probably end up with two types. These will be started from seed outdoors.
Beets: I love roasted beets. I am not in love with stained fingers and cutting boards, but beet pickled eggs just don't look right if they're not violently purple-pink. Just one kind, I think, to be sown directly in the garden on a continuous basis throughout the season.
Carrots: Carrots are good. Carrots are vital for stock making, and also carrot cake. Plus braised carrots are kind of like delicious candy. Again, just one type here (for this year), planted from seed outdoors for continuous harvest.
Cucumbers: I've always loved cucumbers (or, as I called them when I was little, "cuke unders" - my mom adopted that and always called them that). They taste like melons to me, just not as sweet. One of my favorite uses for fresh cucumbers is thinly sliced and soaked overnight in heavily salted water. I may have a salt addiction, you'll notice. Anyway, two varieties of these; one for pickling (about which I am so excited I can't find words right now) and one for fresh eating. I believe these will be started indoors for transplant.
Lettuce: What else would I use for our daily salads? My favorite lettuces are Kos type (like romaine); I plan to grow one of those, some butterhead, and a looseleaf. I may just order a sampler so I can try more varieties, especially since lettuce is easy to grow from seed and I'll be doing many plantings throughout the season.
Onions: I'm going to try to grow some type of globe onion from seed, preferably one that's good for storage. I always keep onions on hand in my kitchen and go into a panic state when I find I've run out. I don't know how many I'll actually be able to plant, though, so I probably won't be able to supply all the onions I'd use this year; I'm considering this more of a starting experiment, to see how well it works. It's unfortunate but I've found that the onions available at the store lately are nasty pungent and they seem to rot very quickly, so I'm hoping for a better solution. I'll start these indoors from seed and move them outdoors; if I have a spare spot in the garden I'm going to try to grow a few sets later in the season to use next year.
Peas: Amazing little sugar packs, aren't they? You can't really get good peas if you're more than five minutes from the plant itself. Snap peas are my favorites, and due to limited vertical growing space I'll probably just grow one variety of these. I believe they will be direct sown outdoors.
Peppers: When I start thinking about peppers, I wish I had a lot more space. In the square foot garden proper I'm going to put at least one kind of sweet pepper, probably an Italian (long, pointy) type to use for stuffing and in salads. But I love chile peppers, and there are so many kinds. I've got one spot reserved in the square foot garden for a hot pepper plant, and will probably put a relatively mild, fruity type in there. But how can I say no to all the others, the poblanos and the habaneros and etc. etc.? I've had really good luck growing these in containers in the past, and the concrete driveway next to the kitchen door needs some serious adornment, so I think I'll try three or four kinds this year. All will be started indoors and transplanted outside later.
Radishes: I really like radish, butter and sea salt sandwiches on nice, fine-crumbed white bread. The problem is that it only takes about, oh, one radish to make a week's worth of sandwiches. So I'm just going to grow one type, no matter how gorgeous they all look in the catalogs, and not very many at a time. I did a radishes Anna-style dish a couple years ago that led me to the discovery that they're really, really good sauteed in butter, so I can do that with any that won't fit on a sandwich. These are another one of the seeds to sow several times throughout the summer (ooh, alliteration).
Squash: As much as I love zucchini, I probably won't be growing any this year, simply because I tend to end up getting them from other sources anyway and my vertical growing space is so limited. I would like to grow one variety of winter squash, since it's nice to get something fresh from the garden after most everything has frozen and gone away. It will be started directly in the garden, perhaps in the same space occupied by the fresh beans, since their harvest will finish in time to allow the squash to grow. Ah, logistics. Still, I know I want to grow them, and I'm likely to have one spot in which to do so, hence they go on the list to be bought and sorted out a little bit later.
Swiss Chard: Greens are good for you. I need to eat more of them. At one point, I was actually told to limit my intake of dark, leafy greens because they inhibit blood clotting, which I guess is a bad thing post-foot surgery. This is no longer the case, so I'm hoping to use the chard in omelets and dips and just, ooh, greens with ham hocks and vinegar. Zack is not a huge fan of greens just yet so I have to be careful not to plant too many (especially since we'll have beet tops as well). I think this will be started directly outdoors, too.
Basil: Pesto! Tomato and mozzarella sandwiches! I'm probably going to stick with just the Genovese type this year and expand in subsequent years to Thai basil and other varieties.
Borage: You can tell we're into herbs now, since this starts with a B, right? I've never actually had borage but it's described as having a cucumber-like flavor, and the flowers are really attractive to bees. I like bees (though I hate wasps), so this is a bonus.
Chives: Chives make almost anything better. Plus I got really, really good at chopping them finely when I worked in a restaurant kitchen - it was almost like a little Zen meditation every day. At home, I just snip them with kitchen shears. Oh well.
Dill: I love dill; Zack doesn't like it much. (I think oregano is poison so I can't really say anything.) I plan to grow enough to use for making pickles, as well as some to dry for use throughout the year.
Mint: Lemonade with mint is so refreshing in the summer. Plus, mint goes so well with so many things; I could also use it to garnish desserts if I wanted them to look like every other dessert ever made. I tried to grow some last year and, unbelievably, it died. It will be in a container for sure, since I've had it take over before. Weedy little thing, hm?
Parsley: It's just such a basic culinary herb. I prefer the flat leaf types just for the sake of appearance.
Sage: Smells like Thanksgiving and is essential to roast poultry, tuna and bean salads, and just generally being yummy. It also looks very pretty.
Shiso: I'm not at all convinced I'll have any success in growing this, but it's one of my favorite flavors, and difficult to find here in Southeast Michigan. I feel like I have to at least try it.
That's it. There are other things I'd like to grow, but I don't want to overreach (yet again) and wind up being frustrated. In particular, I really want to grow my own potatoes, but I think I'm going to hold off on that and add them in next year. Nearly everything will be started from seed; I'm not terribly worried about messing up, since, if the transplants don't grow well enough to go out, I can replace them with plants from the garden center and at least feel I gave it a go.
Now that I've decided what I want, it's time to finalize which varieties I'm going to try and get some orders in to the seed companies. I hope to have seeds and supplies ordered by the end of this weekend (Sunday's the 17th of February - later than I'd like, but time goes so quickly anymore).
And now that I've got all that typed up, I'm going to head outside to hang a new bird feeder in the tree, and perhaps take a picture of the snow-covered spot where the vegetable garden will go.
So it's time to get down to business and decide what I actually want to grow. The time for idly perusing the seed catalogs has come and gone; I need to sort out my budget and my desires and get my hands on the beginnings of this summer's food supply. Especially the onions; I somehow didn't think about the fact that they are extraordinarily slow to grow from seed. I don't want to jump in half-cocked, either, so I need to figure out what I'm going to do about providing light for the seedlings I start indoors. My husband has a special lamp he uses for painting miniatures, and I'm considering appropriating it. I'm also wondering if compact fluorescent bulbs work. That's gone onto the research list for tomorrow.
It's exciting to decide what I want to grow. Today I'm not making a final decision on any specific varieties or sources, so it's not stressful at all, just fun. I have a pretty good idea of what vegetables and herbs I actually use and which tend to sit in the vegetable bin until they move along to the compost pile, so I'm basing my decisions largely on that knowledge. And so, below, my notes to myself (and to you) about what will be living in my backyard vegetable square this year. I've got some more basic information in a spreadsheet I'll probably post at a later point, once I get the kinks ironed out, since I think it might be helpful to other folks too.
Tomatoes: At the top of the list, and out of alphabetical order, because having easy access to good tomatoes is - if I'm being honest - my primary motivation for growing any kind of edible garden at all. I'd like to grow three varieties. One paste type, for canning and freezing to use in salsa, chili and tomato sauces; one good slicing variety to sit around and eat with some salt until I feel sick, to be repeated again the next day; and another spot reserved for whatever type catches my eye. I'm not actually a huge fan of baby (cherry, grape, etc.) tomatoes so this will probably be a medium-sized type that's not as great for eating plain but which will be good for salads and fresh cooking purposes. I can never quite bring myself to use a beefsteak tomato for anything besides near-immediate slicing and chowing. It's probably unreasonable to grow more than three types both because of space limitations and because Zack doesn't actually like tomatoes, so I need to exercise some restraint, here. I plan to start these from seed indoors, so I can grow more exciting varieties than what's available at the local garden centers (oh, wow, more Sweet 100s, never seen those before!) - I hope it actually works. My dad always had great success starting his own plants from seed, so maybe I'll call him and pester him with a lot of questions.
The rest, vegetables first, then herbs:
Beans: I mean to grow beans to eat fresh as well as some to leave on the vines to dry. I love dried beans. They're beautiful to look at (if I ever get around to posting pictures, you'll notice I tend to use my food as home decor as well), amazing to feel, and also delicious. And good for you. I've never dried my own beans before so I admit to having some hesitation here but really, how hard can it be? I'm looking for a variety that can fill both roles but will probably end up with two types. These will be started from seed outdoors.
Beets: I love roasted beets. I am not in love with stained fingers and cutting boards, but beet pickled eggs just don't look right if they're not violently purple-pink. Just one kind, I think, to be sown directly in the garden on a continuous basis throughout the season.
Carrots: Carrots are good. Carrots are vital for stock making, and also carrot cake. Plus braised carrots are kind of like delicious candy. Again, just one type here (for this year), planted from seed outdoors for continuous harvest.
Cucumbers: I've always loved cucumbers (or, as I called them when I was little, "cuke unders" - my mom adopted that and always called them that). They taste like melons to me, just not as sweet. One of my favorite uses for fresh cucumbers is thinly sliced and soaked overnight in heavily salted water. I may have a salt addiction, you'll notice. Anyway, two varieties of these; one for pickling (about which I am so excited I can't find words right now) and one for fresh eating. I believe these will be started indoors for transplant.
Lettuce: What else would I use for our daily salads? My favorite lettuces are Kos type (like romaine); I plan to grow one of those, some butterhead, and a looseleaf. I may just order a sampler so I can try more varieties, especially since lettuce is easy to grow from seed and I'll be doing many plantings throughout the season.
Onions: I'm going to try to grow some type of globe onion from seed, preferably one that's good for storage. I always keep onions on hand in my kitchen and go into a panic state when I find I've run out. I don't know how many I'll actually be able to plant, though, so I probably won't be able to supply all the onions I'd use this year; I'm considering this more of a starting experiment, to see how well it works. It's unfortunate but I've found that the onions available at the store lately are nasty pungent and they seem to rot very quickly, so I'm hoping for a better solution. I'll start these indoors from seed and move them outdoors; if I have a spare spot in the garden I'm going to try to grow a few sets later in the season to use next year.
Peas: Amazing little sugar packs, aren't they? You can't really get good peas if you're more than five minutes from the plant itself. Snap peas are my favorites, and due to limited vertical growing space I'll probably just grow one variety of these. I believe they will be direct sown outdoors.
Peppers: When I start thinking about peppers, I wish I had a lot more space. In the square foot garden proper I'm going to put at least one kind of sweet pepper, probably an Italian (long, pointy) type to use for stuffing and in salads. But I love chile peppers, and there are so many kinds. I've got one spot reserved in the square foot garden for a hot pepper plant, and will probably put a relatively mild, fruity type in there. But how can I say no to all the others, the poblanos and the habaneros and etc. etc.? I've had really good luck growing these in containers in the past, and the concrete driveway next to the kitchen door needs some serious adornment, so I think I'll try three or four kinds this year. All will be started indoors and transplanted outside later.
Radishes: I really like radish, butter and sea salt sandwiches on nice, fine-crumbed white bread. The problem is that it only takes about, oh, one radish to make a week's worth of sandwiches. So I'm just going to grow one type, no matter how gorgeous they all look in the catalogs, and not very many at a time. I did a radishes Anna-style dish a couple years ago that led me to the discovery that they're really, really good sauteed in butter, so I can do that with any that won't fit on a sandwich. These are another one of the seeds to sow several times throughout the summer (ooh, alliteration).
Squash: As much as I love zucchini, I probably won't be growing any this year, simply because I tend to end up getting them from other sources anyway and my vertical growing space is so limited. I would like to grow one variety of winter squash, since it's nice to get something fresh from the garden after most everything has frozen and gone away. It will be started directly in the garden, perhaps in the same space occupied by the fresh beans, since their harvest will finish in time to allow the squash to grow. Ah, logistics. Still, I know I want to grow them, and I'm likely to have one spot in which to do so, hence they go on the list to be bought and sorted out a little bit later.
Swiss Chard: Greens are good for you. I need to eat more of them. At one point, I was actually told to limit my intake of dark, leafy greens because they inhibit blood clotting, which I guess is a bad thing post-foot surgery. This is no longer the case, so I'm hoping to use the chard in omelets and dips and just, ooh, greens with ham hocks and vinegar. Zack is not a huge fan of greens just yet so I have to be careful not to plant too many (especially since we'll have beet tops as well). I think this will be started directly outdoors, too.
Basil: Pesto! Tomato and mozzarella sandwiches! I'm probably going to stick with just the Genovese type this year and expand in subsequent years to Thai basil and other varieties.
Borage: You can tell we're into herbs now, since this starts with a B, right? I've never actually had borage but it's described as having a cucumber-like flavor, and the flowers are really attractive to bees. I like bees (though I hate wasps), so this is a bonus.
Chives: Chives make almost anything better. Plus I got really, really good at chopping them finely when I worked in a restaurant kitchen - it was almost like a little Zen meditation every day. At home, I just snip them with kitchen shears. Oh well.
Dill: I love dill; Zack doesn't like it much. (I think oregano is poison so I can't really say anything.) I plan to grow enough to use for making pickles, as well as some to dry for use throughout the year.
Mint: Lemonade with mint is so refreshing in the summer. Plus, mint goes so well with so many things; I could also use it to garnish desserts if I wanted them to look like every other dessert ever made. I tried to grow some last year and, unbelievably, it died. It will be in a container for sure, since I've had it take over before. Weedy little thing, hm?
Parsley: It's just such a basic culinary herb. I prefer the flat leaf types just for the sake of appearance.
Sage: Smells like Thanksgiving and is essential to roast poultry, tuna and bean salads, and just generally being yummy. It also looks very pretty.
Shiso: I'm not at all convinced I'll have any success in growing this, but it's one of my favorite flavors, and difficult to find here in Southeast Michigan. I feel like I have to at least try it.
That's it. There are other things I'd like to grow, but I don't want to overreach (yet again) and wind up being frustrated. In particular, I really want to grow my own potatoes, but I think I'm going to hold off on that and add them in next year. Nearly everything will be started from seed; I'm not terribly worried about messing up, since, if the transplants don't grow well enough to go out, I can replace them with plants from the garden center and at least feel I gave it a go.
Now that I've decided what I want, it's time to finalize which varieties I'm going to try and get some orders in to the seed companies. I hope to have seeds and supplies ordered by the end of this weekend (Sunday's the 17th of February - later than I'd like, but time goes so quickly anymore).
And now that I've got all that typed up, I'm going to head outside to hang a new bird feeder in the tree, and perhaps take a picture of the snow-covered spot where the vegetable garden will go.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Starting a new year
This isn't the first blog I've started, nor will this be my first year of gardening, but I'm determined to do a little better with both this time than I've done in the past. Somehow the blogs always slip through the cracks; the gardens kind of do, too, because I've never quite made a plan that incorporated the patience you need to see these things through; I always rush to get to the end, and of course there really isn't one for blogs, or gardens. So I hope this blog, this garden, will be an exercise in tolerating non-completion for me, and that I'll learn to live with things that are works in progress. This blog is intended mostly as a journal for my own reference, although I hope other people will read it, too.
Last year I thought of a hundred things I'd like to do with the yard here. I didn't end up doing many of them, although I did manage to dig out a bed and plant a climbing rose and catmint in it. This year I'm trying to limit myself to that bed and two more projects: a square foot vegetable garden, and planting a perennial bed out front.
The vegetable garden is the most important. Last year we joined a CSA, Needle-Lane Farms, and it was wonderful. If it were in the budget this year, I'd join again in a heartbeat. Since it's not, though, I'd like to try to tailor our produce supply a bit more to what we actually use. This is the garden I'm actively planning right now, and what I'm really excited about. With only the two of us, I'm going to start with just one four foot square bed. My thinking is that something so small won't be terribly overwhelming, but it will provide us with enough to eat and preserve. I really enjoyed canning applesauce and pie filling last year and hope to extend that to pickles and tomato sauce this year. There's something so pleasing about seeing rows of jars all lined up and knowing you made the contents yourself; even more true, I think, if you grew those contents from seed.
I tried to fix up the front bed last year, but ended up just planting it with a lot of petunias. If the vegetable garden takes up most of my budget this year, that may happen again. What I'd like to do, though, is get a perennial garden set up out there. Our neighborhood isn't exactly brimming with examples of fantastic landscaping, so I guess I don't feel pressure to do so; it would just be nice to have something nice to look at when I come home. The biggest problem is that there are two big shrub stumps out there, and my attempts at removing them haven't been very successful. Perhaps I can enlist my husband and an axe and have another go.
At any rate, sitting here in February and looking out the window at the back yard, I feel excitement about the possibilities for this year. The vegetable garden, particularly, seems like it will be a wonderful thing, the root of so much that's positive. I've learned that the real world rarely corresponds to the elaborate fantasies I create about it, but I really do think this will be a good year for gardening.
Last year I thought of a hundred things I'd like to do with the yard here. I didn't end up doing many of them, although I did manage to dig out a bed and plant a climbing rose and catmint in it. This year I'm trying to limit myself to that bed and two more projects: a square foot vegetable garden, and planting a perennial bed out front.
The vegetable garden is the most important. Last year we joined a CSA, Needle-Lane Farms, and it was wonderful. If it were in the budget this year, I'd join again in a heartbeat. Since it's not, though, I'd like to try to tailor our produce supply a bit more to what we actually use. This is the garden I'm actively planning right now, and what I'm really excited about. With only the two of us, I'm going to start with just one four foot square bed. My thinking is that something so small won't be terribly overwhelming, but it will provide us with enough to eat and preserve. I really enjoyed canning applesauce and pie filling last year and hope to extend that to pickles and tomato sauce this year. There's something so pleasing about seeing rows of jars all lined up and knowing you made the contents yourself; even more true, I think, if you grew those contents from seed.
I tried to fix up the front bed last year, but ended up just planting it with a lot of petunias. If the vegetable garden takes up most of my budget this year, that may happen again. What I'd like to do, though, is get a perennial garden set up out there. Our neighborhood isn't exactly brimming with examples of fantastic landscaping, so I guess I don't feel pressure to do so; it would just be nice to have something nice to look at when I come home. The biggest problem is that there are two big shrub stumps out there, and my attempts at removing them haven't been very successful. Perhaps I can enlist my husband and an axe and have another go.
At any rate, sitting here in February and looking out the window at the back yard, I feel excitement about the possibilities for this year. The vegetable garden, particularly, seems like it will be a wonderful thing, the root of so much that's positive. I've learned that the real world rarely corresponds to the elaborate fantasies I create about it, but I really do think this will be a good year for gardening.
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