Monday, April 13, 2020

STARTED THE GARDEN

Well here is the update from last weekend.  That Saturday was a washout with lots of rain so Sunday it was.  It stayed overcast but was cooler and a breeze.

On the way out, I stopped at the store and got some veggies, at least what worked for what we wanted and what they had in stock.  The mom and pop nurseries are closed due to the pandemic so we had to go to big box stores.  At least we could get some things in the ground.  


Here is the sky and grass.  The grass was growing slowly so I was OK with that.  Yesterday's update, you'll be able to see that I finally mowed.


I planted one yellow squash.  The last time we tried this I planted a yellow squash AND a zucchini in the same bed and it did not work.  They were both too big.  So this year we'll just let one plant take over the whole bed.  We opted not to have a zucchini this time around and since we LOVE yellow squash we figured that would work fine.  Hope to try some delicious squash casserole in a couple months.


In this bed we planted three bell peppers.  Green, red and yellow.  2nd Man wants to try some stuffed bell peppers with the green and of course he LOVES to cook with red and yellow chopped up peppers in many other dishes.


We used the bigger bed for tomatoes.  We're going to try them again but with different varieties.  The celebrity is of course one of the most popular tomatoes grown and does well in our area...the big beef is supposed to well suited to our humid and hot summers and is prolific...and the rutgers is an heirloom that does well here and is known for it's great 'canning' tomatoes.  

You can see will still have room for a 4th variety.  Not sure what we will get, the two big box stores had some more varieties available but these three were the ones I knew could work in our area.  That was part of the plan this past Saturday, find another (and some more veggies) but the choices were slim.


And here is officially the world's loneliest herb garden, ha.  I found exactly ONE basil plant.  For some reason, our basil (in this bed always) grows like crazy and it will eventually fill up most of the center of this spot.  The stores were completely out of most herbs.  Oh sure they had rosemary (don't need), lavender (would like to have but that would have to go elsewhere), cilantro (doesn't last long in our heat) and a ton of mints (we already have some of that and don't want it taking over this bed).  This coming weekend I'll try a couple of other places and see what we can get.  2nd Man really wants some thyme and oregano.  Maybe a couple of those at each corner and that will be it for the herbs this Spring.

On Saturday they had all been in the ground for a week and are doing great even though I don't have the watering system set up yet.  That's on the plan for this coming weekend.  I water them deeply when I'm there and then we've had cool weather with a couple of rainy days during the week so it's been fine so far.  Our backup plan is 2nd Family who will come up and water for us if we asked.


8 comments:

  1. If you buy the little pots of herbs in soil sold in the supermarket and tease apart the roots they will grow on in the garden. Jessica in Scotland.

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  2. I love Celebrity tomatoes. Even though I always grow heirlooms, I will occasionally pick up a Celebrity plant because they do really well. I'm glad you were able to get some plants that you wanted. I suspect that herbs are going to be scarce all over the country. The seeds are already getting hard to find.

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  3. and this is the first time in years i didn't start stuff to plant in my gardens because i thought i would buy everything at the amish markets. and now i can't leave my house and need a garden more than ever before.

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  4. Basil grows real easy from seed. I have had some to reseed itself. Try some in a container on your balcony in the city.

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  5. Your plants look like they are growing very well. And your soil looks so healthy.
    For your 4th tomato plant, I would recommend a Cherry tomato or a Grape tomato. They produce lots of the smaller salad size tomatoes and are wonderful for snacking.
    Do you have any room for green beans? They grow very fast from seeds.
    Okra grows well from seeds also. It's best to soak them overnight before planting.
    Could you squeeze in a couple of cucumbers? They grow well from seeds too. For salads and making pickles.

    If you want to drive an hour to get some garden plants, the 2 mom-and-pop nurseries in my town are still open. Maybe because they are open air.

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  6. Do you ever consider companion planting? You can see what grows well with other plants.

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  7. Looks like you're off to a very good start.

    'How fair is a garden amid the trials and passions of existence!'

    Gardening requires lots of water, most of it in the form of perspiration. by Lou Erickson
    Have a great day.

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  8. Where we live, all the nurseries are open for curb side pick up; honestly, it's the easiest way to shop... pick out what you want on the website, pay online, pick up -- you only have to interact with one person, no need to even get out of the car.
    My husband always likes to see your mower stats (what is it about mowers that make men slightly nutty?), but he also like to tell me how he thinks that you cut your grass too short (like he's the expert).

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