Planted!

May 27

Here is is, all planted or mostly planted to be more accurate.  The rain came hard yesterday morning and just like magic, the sun came out around 2:00. We went over and spent a couple hours planting. We still have room for tomatillos, more onions and some odds and ends.  I might throw a couple sweet pepper plants over by the tomatoes. We also have more zucchini than yellow squash.  I will drive over there later today and see if any of our plants got turned into a vermin feast.

Anny waiting to go home

A man, a plan, a canal

This is the first stage of our garden plan for this year.  We are going to put in a combination of plants and seeds in the hope we can extend the harvest, especially in the summer squash and zucchini.  Ironically, these are the two vegetables that are like gold at the start of the season, but after a couple weeks, nobody wants anything.  Last year we ate zucchini boats, patties, bread baked and fried, but I digress. This is the layout.

Plants- in no particular order

• Zucchini
• Yellow squash
• Cherry tomatoes
• Roma tomatoes
• Beefsteak tomatoes
• Jalapeño peppers
• Poblano peppers
• Anaheim peppers
• Some other pepper
• Sweet peppers
• Tomatillos

Seeds-in order of maturity

• Summer squash
• Cucumber
• Green beans
• Zucchini
• Snowbird peas
• Green beans
• Sugar snap peas
• Carrots
• Watermelons

We also have a couple types of onions, red, yellow, purple what have you.  I like strong red onions.  I think we may be able to do a second crop later in the year.

It's raining this morning, looks like a good soaker.  If it clears up this afternoon, we may go try to get started with the planting.  It's been pretty warm and dry for the past week or so, warm for this time of year.  Not much worry about frost but oh how quickly that can all change!

Purpose

Last year's garden

Squash, zucchini, beans and peppers!

Last year we had a garden for the first time in a long time.  Living in a subdivision and having dogs are two strikes against having a summer vegetable garden so for years, we settled for the farm market.  Last year a friend offered the use of his garden spot.  His brother in law has some property a few miles from my house that he tills up for a family garden.  It's located in a low lying field right next to a pond and stream.  During the dry months, he sets up a siphon hose from the pond to water the garden.  There is a rototiller available to use.  It's a nice deal and I feel fortunate to have this kind of opportunity.  Last summer was our first year and we ate like kings all season.  We gave lots of food away to family and friends.  We also learned a lot about growing veggies, cooking veggies,  not to mention canning and storing veggies.  We wasted a lot of food last year because we weren't prepared to store it for the winter. I have a better idea what to expect this year and we should cut down on the waste as well as continue the feast in the winter.

Eggplant

It's Memorial Day Weekend, the start of the garden season in the north. The threat of late frost still lingers but this plot doesn't seem to get much frost, maybe because it's on low ground.  We are ready to go.  Tina has been doodling up garden plans, I've picked up some plants and seeds.  I also started this blog, hoping to keep a record of our botanical adventure. Maybe next April, we can come back here, review this record and have an even better summer.  As a bonus, I'm taking a plant biology class this summer so that may also flatten the learning curve a bit.