Progress

Here's what has sprouted so far in our garden.

Our most impressive crop so far is arugula. This is the second planting from 4/5 (the chickens massacred the February planting).



Sad looking tiny carrot sprouts.



Turnips are looking good -- but the slugs are eating them.



Artichokes have sprouted all over the place from our neighbors yard debris I put down as compost on one of our beds. I think we'll let them keep growing!



Also some greens on our porch. The herbs I actually planted from seed last year, and they survived the winter.

starting a few warm season veggies indoors

i started indoors today:

rostov sunflowers (2)
teddy bear sunflowers (4)
delicata
muskmelon
lemon squash
lebanese white marry squash
cukes
cocozelle -- looks like zuchinni

Second round of plantings

A few things have sprouted from the 4/5 plantings: arugula is looking great and turnips are looking pretty good as well. I think some carrots have come up that I didn't label. Also, the lettuce and kale seedlings I transplanted are growing well (the spinach looks pathetic).

Today, I planted the following from peas (starts! I think the squirrels have been eating all of my attempts to plant seeds). Also, I planted the following from seeds:

carrots -- atomic red (nichols garden nursery)
spinach -- marimba - hybrid (nichols)
parsley -- giant italian (nichols)
runner beans -- painted lady -- saved from last year!
zinnia -- persian carpet (botanical interests) -- i sprinkled some seeds on the green pot with a dahlia in the middle
lettuce -- mesculin mix
peas again -- oregon sugar bod 2 (nichols)
corn salad/mache - large seeded dutch (nichols)
summer squash -- cocozelle - looks like zuchinni (botanical interests)
more turnips -- purple top white globe (nichols)
swiss chard -- magenta sunset (territorial seed co.)

i also planted some dahlias up front (very excited) and i used compost and ACTUAL FERTILIZER this year so maybe they won't die before they even come out of the ground.

dahlia -- grand prix (vanbloem gardens) - these have giant yellow flowers with white tips. i planted them both up front and i'm really hoping they come up.

dahlia -- purple diamond (vanbloem gardens) - these are smally pink ones that are supposed to be good for containers. i planted them in pots by the side door.

speaking of failure

so everything i planted in the ground was completed dug up by a chicken invasion, and everything i planted indoors failed to thrive. bummer.

today i put a bunch more in the ground:

arugula (nichols)
chard - orange oriole (baker creek)
lettuce - esmerelda, few other varieties (nichols)
carrots - purple haze hybrid (territorial seed co)
beets - early wonder (botanical interests)
turnips - purple top white globe (nichols garden nursery)
spinach - oriental giant (nichols) [transplanted started in feb]
peas - oregon sugar pod 2 (nichols)
kale - nero di toscana (territorial) [transplanted, started in feb]
parsley - giant italian (nichols)
celery - crazy pink kind [transplanted, started in feb]

sunflowers - rostov (seed savers exchange) -- no idea when these should be planted
echinacea - prairie coneflower (bonatical interests) -- ditto!

i'm hoping i'll have time this spring to keep up with it and plant some more. i need to figure out when to plant summer stuff indoors (um, now, i think) and get tomatoes and squash going.

i also want to plant lots of flowers this year, including sunflowers (which i somehow failed at last year, amazing), poppies, and dahlias (which i will actually fertilize this year).

in other news, last year's blueberries and strawberries seem to be making buds and several of our herbs have survived our neglect (chives, thyme, oregano, sage, lavender, rosemary). however, i dare say i managed to kill a peppermint plant -- aren't they supposed to be invasive? i have skills.

starting seeds indoors - tomatoes, etc.

i just started some seeds indoors in those little peet discs that expand with water. we'll see how that goes.

cherry tomatoes
japanese black trifelle tomatoes (baker creek, i totally failed at these last summer)
purple tomatillos
some echinacea flowers
parsley
chard - orange oriole (baker creek)

welcome spring!

hello nobody,

i'm starting this blog as my gardening journal. last year, i totally sucked at gardening! i don't know if i will get any better this year, but maybe i will learn something along the way. i think last year our only successes were delicata squash and some arugula before it got really tall and turned into flowers (i later learned this was called bolting). the chickens enjoyed a lot of broccoli that never formed heads and aphid-infested kale. and by infested, i mean aphids completely covering every inch TOTALLY DISGUSTING.

anyway, this year started off much like last year. i planted some stuff outside in late february and now have forgotten what it is. the good news -- stuff is coming up! i think it is arugula and radishes. note for next year: i also planted peas and they have mysteriously disappeared.

this year, new leaf. i thought i'd take some notes. so today, i blew out of the library with my final paper in a sorry state and drove straight to the garden store -- where they had a giant carrot cake! i had three pieces. anyway, i bought a lot of seeds that i realized when i got home that i already have. anticipating rain, i planted in our raised beds:

turnips - purple top white glob organic (nichols garden nursery)
chard - orange something, i threw away the package
peas - also totally threw away the package

and around the time i planted up the mystery beds outside, i started some stuff inside:

negro di toscana kale (territorial seed co.)
spinach - oriental giant hybrid (nichols garden nursery)
lettuce - no idea
beets
celery - red giant (territorial)

i went ahead and transplanted one of each of the spinach, kale and lettuce into the beds outside. oh, i did harden them off a bit, but only for two days. i fully expect them to all die. we'll see.