The Garden Is In

or- What Compromises I Made This Year

I am very happy that the garden is in. The weather has been very warm for late spring and I have felt pretty confident that even the cucurbits would be fine.

In the greenhouse, I put tomatoes and tomatoes, but I did interplant some things. My thought was to give a little variety in there and to give the tomatoes some personal space. So, there are a few marigolds and calendula, there are melons and broccoli. There are two carrot beds and another one for beets. I put two tomatillos in there just to see how they do in a greenhouse. I put in a few borage plants because they are beautiful and a good companion plant for tomatoes. They self seed which can be annoying, but then I can just transplant the seedlings or weed them out.

I did not plant any corn or beans for drying this year. I am trying to give each plant more space, as I think things were too cramped last year. I also managed to get carrots and rutabagas and beets planted in a timely fashion. I planted many, many cabbages and other kohl crops. I looked more to plant the things we buy if we have not grown them. We buy frozen peas and beans and we buy cabbages, so I tried to get more of these planted. I also started onions from seed, and I am happy to say they look good so far. I planted a lot of winter squash and no summer squash- we eat the one and not the other. I planted the cherry tomatoes in the lettuce bed by the house and I planted a couple of slicer tomatoes and cucumber plants in the bed by the back door. My thought is that these will be easier to put on the table if no one actually has to walk ALL the way to the garden.

I planted maybe 50 daisies here and there and everywhere. The morning glories did well and they are planted in a couple of places. I just stuck the nicotiana in the ground, and it will have to sink or swim. The nasturtiums did not germinate. I put sunflowers by our bedroom window again; they actually make pretty good shade once they get going. I'm putting pole beans at their base. I DID start some early, but they did not do so well. Hopefully, the direct seeded ones will get going pretty quickly.