Garden 2012!

In the throes of our *very* warm winter this past season, I was longing for spring (and my wedding!). That time last year I was collecting seeds and peat pots and a cute little plastic seedling greenhouse. I decided then that I was going to be a farme..er, gardener that is.

Just like any inquisitive kid, I have had my fair share of seed-starting. Watching the little plants poke their first two leaves out of the moist soil and watching them grow to one, two inches tall... And then watching them die. I had a sunflower a few years ago that got to a height of three or four inches and then, due to my lack of, well, everything, I sadly watched as it withered away.

Now, I’m all right with plants in general. When I remember to water them. I do stay away from the plants that require really specialized care – I had a china doll plant in my early college career that I LOVED and after killing plant #2, I decided china dolls just weren’t for me. I can keep the hearty ones alive. And the one I intentionally tried to kill (the succulent an ex-boyfriend gave me) is still with me now twelve years later (and it’s birthed three other plants just like it!). And I cannot forget Monster. A plant that was a pretty little three-leaved thing that I brought cross-country with me when I moved from Montana to Virginia. Now Monster is four and a half feet tall and about four feet around and filled with foot to foot-and-a-half leaves. I credit it taking off to the bright kitchen it lived in for two years, and my Mother’s super-green-thumb care. I try to remember to water it now that it lives in the gable area of my bedroom. Sometimes, I remember.

So back to starting seeds. My first real effort at starting seeds was last year, and for the most part, I consider my efforts successful. The poor plants didn’t really have a chance in hell to succeed though because the garden soil I transplanted them into was so nutrient poor. But all in all, after starting to fertilize, I got some beautiful basil and the marigolds were gorgeous! My shasta daisies never came up and the dill never really did well but that’s okay. I did get several yummy cucumbers though!

However, due to the impending wedding and the assumption soon-to-be-Hubby and I would have a new house, I decided to not do seeds this year. I figured it would be too much work to get a garden established at the new house so quickly and et cetera. But then the beautiful warm weather hit. And all the garden stuff started coming out in the stores. And all my coworkers starting talking about their little garden plots and plans. And every drive, I would just zero in on people’s little rectangles of brown dirt. And now-Hubby and I still are house-less.

I made the decision that I was going to have my garden again this year anyways. I’ve been reading up, too. So I got some really good garden soil and organic material to mix into my nutrient-poor garden beds and some really healthy seedlings. And I decided to throw in some seeds to see what I could get. I know the seeds were planted a little on the late side, but to be fair, we did have a light frost two and a half weeks ago. Hopefully we won’t have a tropical storm again this year when the tomato plants are full of beautiful green tomatoes (they all rotted)!

In all I planted:

two Mr. Stripy heirloom tomato plants

two German Johnson heirloom tomato plants
one cubanelle pepper plant
one sweet red pepper plant
one black pepper plant (of the heirloom variety)
one pearl cucumber plant
one heirloom straight eight cucumber plant
four bush cucumber plants (this may have been overkill though!)
and a pretty curly parsley plant

And I put seeds in for:
sweet basil
purple basil (this is really pretty!)
dill
cilantro – keeps the bugs away
radishes (they didn’t do anything last year, but I’m trying again)
green beans
purple beans
and micro greens (behind the cucumber ladders – I read someplace that you can try planting the micro greens behind a structure where they can be protected from the heat)
and sunflowers in buckets :)

I also read that you can over-plant small gardens because you’re not necessarily looking for commercial production numbers and you don’t have to have room for machinery. The overplanting can help keep the moisture levels higher in the garden, and keeps the heat down under the bigger plants. I’m sure that’s true to some degree, but we have issues in our yard from both the HOT sun (this part of the yard gets sun nearly all day) and when it rains, that part of the backyard stays wet for an extended amount of time.


So, hopefully in two weeks I have some seedlings and my tomatoes and peppers have grown!