So far, I've got three heirloom Brandywines, three organic plums, one cherry and two ground cherry tomato plants in. I've also got a jalapeno pepper and a zucchini seedling (potted, for now). All of these are flowering. This Saturday, I plan to add a couple of bell seedlings, another couple of jalapeno, a cayenne (if I can find one), and at least another three plums.
I have the first sowing of organic leaf lettuce and organic dwarf carrots coming up, as well as my first sowing (15 square feet?) of yellow organic bush beans just breaking ground. Tonight, I planted a 4' row of beets and a 4' row of chard and my second sowing of organic bush beans (these, a drying type -- I'll have to dig out the envelope to post the names). The beets and chard are in between the bush bean rows. I added some thyme seed to my old winter-worn thyme plant (it's seven years old and I'll get another to grow alongside it before I pull this one out of the ground -- it was the first thing I ever planted in my garden). I also scattered some organic spicy mixed greens seed in with the lettuce and carrots coming up around my heirloom tomatoes.
I harvested some rhubarb yesterday. I should have separated some of it early in the spring. It's sort of scrunched together and scraggly. If I play my cards right, though, I should be able to get at least a couple dozen jars of chutney or jam out of it, and some frozen to boot. Right now, I need to figure out what to do with the 50 square feet or so of lemon balm that's spread across part of the garden over the past summers. Do I just pull it and compost it? I have some young burdock coming up, too, in a corner, and need to figure out when to pull it to get to try out the roots.
I'll definitely take some photos this weekend after I get some more seedlings in.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
The garden
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2 comments:
Sounds like your garden is really coming along! We had a Brandywine tomato start, but it doesn't seem to be doing very well, our roma and better boy are doing ok right now though.
I notice you and other gardeners talk about multiple sowings of things. Is this something I should be doing in my garden? We didn't sow any seeds directly into the ground, we started the seeds in containers in our apartment and then transplanted them into the ground.
I am hoping on canning and preserving myself this summer. Going to take advantage of my garden (hopefully) and the farmer's market while things are in season. Gotta get a water bath canner though.....
I would love to see pictures of your garden!
It's a good idea to make multiple sowings of things like lettuce, so that you don't get all of your lettuce at once. I try to sow lettuce / greens every couple of weeks, so that way I always have fresh baby greens on the go (thanks to thinning) and have fully grown lettuce over a longer period of time. Same with radishes. Beans are nice to stagger, since that way, you're not overwhelmed, having to harvest them all at once.
Water bath canners are cheap and easy to use. Most of my canning has actually been limited to tomatoes and pickled things, so I'm looking forward to canning beans and other stuff this year. I'm thinking of building a solar dryer, too, for herbs and hot peppers, as well as to dry some plum tomatoes.
My garden's not much to look at right now. It's mostly lemon balm. Heheh. I'll take some pics this weekend, though, after I get more transplants in. It's just a small kitchen garden -- nothing impressive.
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