Gardening: Organizing
Getting organized for this year has been a chore! Winter has finally set in, so that may delay my planting schedule. I have no idea, and it's irritating not knowing what the weather will be like this year. The one thing I can take care of is my method of gardening this year. We have decided to plant all our food in containers! This will be fun! So, I have put out a request on Freecycle for any containers laying around. I pray I will find enough in time, since we are renters and I REALLY do not want to tear up the yard. Although I want to only plant heirlooms, I HATE wasting seed. That's why you will see some hybrids on my lists.
2006
These are what I have decided to grow this year (I will let some of these go to seed to see how viable they are for seed stock plants):
Chantenay Red Cored Carrot
Candy Stick Hybrid Carrot
Francisca & Red Savina Habanero Chiles
Peruvian Purple Peppers
Jalapenos
Garden Salsa Hybrid Pepper
California Wonder Bell Pepper
Santa Grape Tomato
Cherokee Purple Tomato
Neves Azorean Red Tomato
Wisconsin 55 Tomato
Wisconsin 55 Gold Tomato
Clemson Spineless Okra
Kentucky Blue Garden Bean
Jung's Tricolor Blend Bush Bean
National Pickling Cucumber
Jung's Caesar Salad Blend (Green and Red Romaine)
Salad Bowl Lettuce
Waltham 29 Broccoli
Snowball Y Improved Cauliflower
Chiogga Beet
White Lisbon Bunching Onion
Red Burgundy Onion
Honey King Hybrid Melon
Some kind of corn, still have not decided which one yet.
As you can see, container growing will be interesting! Despite our large yard, we also have trees. That does not leave a large sunny area. The grouping of trees leave long areas that get enough sun to grow what I want, so I just have to make sure I have some containers that are visually appealing (the rest will be in the back yard).
Implementation
2006*06*23:
Gardening has proven to be a challenge this year. The container idea flew out the window, since we were unable to acquire containers. So, for this year, gardening for food is out. The dirt here is horrible, and with true summer setting in (day three of over 100 degree F temps), the plants may not have survived.2006*07*13:
Well, I am officially not growing anything this year. We have triple digits for the next week or so, and I will be lucky to keep the chickens alive.2007*02*20:
Let the planting begin! I currently have two pots out back, one with "Jung's Caesar Salad Blend", and the other is half Santa Grape tomatoes and half Peruvian Purple Peppers. Once they are established, I will transfer the tomatoes into the ground (last time I grew these, the bushes were huge!). Having to wait has been a blessing in disquise. The soil has improved thanks to mulching. It feels fantastic to finally have something planted. Within the next month, we will purchase more pots so I can finish planting.2007*04*06:
Due to bugs, I lost all but 4 of my grape tomato plants, but those are doing great! I have also discovered some edible weeds! I have ONE chickweed plant (growing in the tomato pot but no others to be found anywhere on the property), about 6 Lamb's Quarters, and hopefully some plantain (that's what it looks like but it's too small for me to properly identify). There are others coming up but I still have not identified them. Amazingly, ONE Peruvian Purple Pepper plant came up (these seeds were about 4 years old). I have more Caesar Salad Blend than I know what to do with. I also got one more pot going, and now am on my second set of leaves for Chantenay Red Cored Carrot.2008*05*29:
Well, dogs. They almost leave me speechless. I hadn't realized I had not given you an update on my plantings in quite a while, so here it is. They dug up everything! They even dug at the base of my tables just so the pots would tip over so they could dig. I tried for 2 months to setup something to keep them from getting into the pots. I gave up. I haven't planted food since last year. Now, thanks to Cecilia from Freecycle (who I received some wonderful canning jars from) there is hope! Her yard is beautiful and free from dog intrusion! She had half wine barrels along the side of her driveway, with plants in between, a large planter box by the garage, and her front yard! It just didn't dawn on me that a yard could be used so productively and beautifully! I may have just enough time to start again by keeping those paws away from my food!