What's Growin'

Garden plans are underway!

Of course I tried to buy heirloom and organic seed where possible, but honestly, we are so broke I wasn't sure I was even going to be able to put in a garden this year, so I am simply very happy to have what I could find at my local hardware. I can only take careful notes, and save seed from the good stuff, so I have less to buy next year.

I spent yesterday setting a few seeds, the rest should probably be direct sown. I set a flat of some early salad greens which I will be transplanting once the beds are up. I know it will be a rather tedious process, but I favor it over just dumping seeds in a trench and they do transplant reasonably well. They also prefer the cooler temps of the early summer to germinate, and I'm a little afraid of how well they'll start when direct sown after it begins to get really warm. Starting them in a flat gives me a rather clear idea of how well they are germinating. The lettuce bed will consist of Black Seeded Simpson, mesclun mix, mesclun spicy, salad bowl blend (red and green mix), and arugula.

I have 15 Roma tomatoes and 4 Cherry tomatoes that I bought as 6" starts. They were 1.69 for a pack of four. I thought that was a pretty good deal so I grabbed them. I love tomatoes. At one point I had a very large garden consisting of more than 33 tomato plants. I had tomatoes coming out of my ears and spent a great deal of time canning and making pasta sauce. I would love to work my way up to that again but considering I am starting all new beds, I am trying to keep it small this year. ;)

I have also seeded flats, bins, pots etc, of Basil, Thyme,True Greek Oregano, and Echinacea.

Chamomile, dill,mint, parsnip (lilly miller seed), bunching onions (lilly miller Organic seed),Cherry Bell Radis (Ferry Morse Organic Seed), Scarlet Nantes carrot (Ferry Morse Organic Seed), Oregon Sugar Pod Peas (Ferry Morse Organic Seed), and Purple Haze Carrots will all be direct sown.

I also found some Rosemary seeds, but the packet says rosemary grows very slowly and unless I had started it indoors months ago, I probably won't be able to harvest any this year. not having grown Rosemary before (zone 8 and we are barely zone 5) I may not waste my time on it this year.

The kids helped start some sunflowers varieties,Moulin Rouge for the color, and Mammoth (grows 7 feet with 18" flower heads) for a "flower fort", and Promise bought Sugar Baby Watermelon - an early variety maturing in 75 days, from Lilly Miller. She took care to point out as she added them to my seed packet pile, that they are in fact a vegetable. ;)