Weeding, seeding, and the view from the air!

With the weather finally warm enough to set things out (that have of course been properly hardened off), I decided to hurry up and get some stuff in the ground before I whisk off to California for a few days.

That required some heavy-duty weeding action first.  I probably weeded for a solid hour, and it still needs work, but I don't feel bad showing pictures now.

First thing - and no weeding required - the strawberries are starting to poke their heads out.  I'm not sure if I'll actually get fruit this year - but I'm optimistic.

All of my brussels but two disappeared - I'm not really sure where they went...and the two that are still there are pretty pitiful looking.  So I caved in and got some young plants the other day.  C. really likes brussels, so I really want to have some to feed her at some point before the frost. ;)

I also got some of my seedlings for the three-sisters area put into the ground - three of the corn stalks are big enough and two of the luffa plants:

(there are peas seeded in between the corn stalks - so as the corn grows, the peas will vine right up it (in theory))

And then, of course, the luffa will get big and sprawly and keep the weeds out of the corn/peas' roots.  If I were doing it right, I apparently would have put dead fish in both of these mounds, but...I didn't.

I also put the big-enough-cuke plant in.  It's a little shocked from transplant, but it'll perk up in a few hours:

In a few weeks, you won't recognize it, it'll be climbing up its trellis like crazy.

Here's a shot through the cuke trellis - I won't be able to do this for very much longer:

You can see that I still need to weed more, but there are chard, beets, carrots, spinach, some lettuces, broccoli, garlic, basil, onions and tomatoes out there.  The other day I seeded in my Paris Market Carrots (by the tomato plants) and some Lisbon Bunching Onions as well - they'll be poking their heads out soon.

And last, the view from the air.  It's been really weird to work around my landlady's trees.  Some of them desperately need to be pruned and I might help her out with that a little while she's in Italy.  The shadiest part of the garden has the greens, beets, and carrots in it.  The next sunniest has the tomato patch (with more carrots, onions, and basil) and soon will have pumpkins.  The sunny side will have the melon patch - and you can see the circular places where the mounds for the three-sisters area are being put in place. 

2010 Beginings

It's been in the 50s and 60s in Boston this week and so I decided to start in on gardening, also it was my birthday yesterday and there's no better way to celebrate birthdays than by doing something you love and I love gardening.

Today I started my Brussels Sprouts inside...I love a good vintage casserole dish mini-greenhouse.

(L-R) Seeds for the above, and Spinach and Chard which just got started outside.  I also started some Great Lakes Lettuce from a Buzzy Seed Starter kit.  I love that salad greens are cold hearty.

My front stoop/porch area has a pretty intricate railing set-up, so I'm going to put in three-ish different kinds of Morning Glories.  The Grandpa Otts have always come up beautifully, I just got Scarlett O'Hara yesterday, and I have seed-saved MGs from previous years that could be any combo of Grandpa/Celestial Mix or might just be Grandpa.  I have a whole bag of these and if anyone wants Morning Glory Seeds, let me know.

Flowers that may or may not go in depending on pot/"yard" space.  I've never gotten moonflowers to come up, but I'm going to try again.

Tomatoes....I'll probably do 1-2 of each plant type....and this year rather than pot marigolds in their own pots around the tomatoes, I might just put them in the very edges of the tomato pots.  I'm trying a new kind of mari, they're called French Vanilla.  I think that they're going to make the tomato plants look like giant Caprese salads.

I've had a topsy turvy for years and it's g one unused, I think this year I'm going to try to topsy-turvy these eggplants.  We'll see how it goes.

I'm going to do another root-veggies container...cheap plastic container, drill holes in the bottom, pour a bunch of dirt in it and then root it up.

So...so far:

Near to far:
Two years ago's rosemary that came up a little last year, we'll see.  Garlic (needs the cold to divide)!  Ladybird Poppies (like to be chilly before they sprout)!  A peony...yes in a container...we'll see how that goes.  Somewhat hidden in a tiny pot is the Great Lakes lettuce.  Next is a strawberry pot with home-depot bulbs in it.  I've never done strawberries...another we'll see.  Spinach in the long green container that I'm going to try to be good about succession planting.  Rainbow Chard in the second long green container. 

Left to Right:
A little Jade cutting that I started when we moved to our new place.  Rosemary (another Buzzy Grow Kit) and Basil (more of the same).

I also have had my name on the wait-list for the community garden on the Somerville Bikeway since May of '08.  I'd give myself a 75% chance that my name will come up this year (average wait time is about 2 years)...if it does then I'm going to do 3-sisters again:

Depending on pot/yard space and/or community garden plot, I also want to do these again:

I also have these two seed bombs that my friend Flo (who died in Haiti) made with some kids at a school in NH (they were brought to his memorial by the teacher for whom he led the class.  I have no idea what's in them (although I can see squash seeds in there) so I'm going to hold onto them until I have some space to account for a squash vine, which is not now.  I also like having them on my desk and look at them and think of him.

PS. I'm serious about Morning Glories: