Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Enough negative stuff, let's talk gardens!

I haven't got garden pics yet, sorry. It's on my list for tomorrow, which means there's half a chance it'll get done.

The heated prop's currently full to bursting with seeds, and I have some little plants already. So here's what's happening in Embryo Veg Patch Central (otherwise known as my utility room) at the moment.

Black pumpkins (they look funky), little plants about 3 inches high, just getting their first true leaves.
Yellow patty pan squash, little plants about the same as the pumpkins.
Sweet peppers, two varieties. We probably get through 10 peppers a week, so I figured it was worth growing a few plants.
Chilli peppers, cayenne and jalepeno. I haven't grown them before. I intend to dry some of them for winter use.
Various mixed lettuces, in the greenhouse, which will be harvested for baby leaves or used as "cut-and-come-again" types.
Purple sprouting broccoli, since we love broccoli too.
Watercress, which sounds like fun.
Nasturtiums, as companion plants for cabbages/lettuces - the idea is that the butterflies prefer them so my veg are safe from caterpillars.
Sunflowers, for the birds, and also to attract beneficial insects as companions to the squash.
Marigolds, companions for tomatoes/chillis/peppers as they repel nasty bugs.
Other flowers, such as violas, candytuft, swan river daisies, black-eyed susan, virginia stock, pansies, sweet peas. Will be joined by others as soon as I have room.

And the seeds I sowed the other day:
More summer squash - green and gold courgettes/zucchini, green patty pans, little round ones, and very pale ones. Because they're pretty and tasty and I bought a pack of six different varieties pretty cheap.
Melons - watermelon and honeydew. Because they taste a million times better than supermarket ones.
Tomatillos, an experiment, because they sound cool.
Huckleberries, as above.
Basil, companion for tomatoes both in the greenhouse and the kitchen!

And on order, or yet to be sown:
Tomatoes, cordon and bush types. Some will go in the greenhouse, some outside in pots.
Sugarsnap peas, which I've never grown either.
Sweetcorn, a type which copes well with our awful summers.
Strawberries - I've only just started liking them again after being put off by eating too many as a kid. These will go in hanging baskets.
Garlic, essential in my kitchen.
Onions, all three colours. My dad used to grow them on his allotment, and prided himself on growing HUGE ones. I never saw the point, as they didn't taste of much. But he enjoyed it.
Carrots and parsnips, if I can get the soil sorted out enough for a decent crop. If not I'll probably just grow baby ones.
Salsify, which I've never even tasted but keep hearing about on food programmes.
Cabbages - what's a veg garden without cabbages?
Cauliflowers, some pretty spirally green romanesco ones.
Rhubarb, as the stuff already in the garden's exhausted. I'll add loads of manure this year and dig it up and separate it next spring if it isn't any better, and use the new stuff if not.
Various types of beans, including kidney, dwarf french, Cherokee.
Asparagus, which I've been meaning to grow for ages. It will be a few years before I can harvest though.
Asparagus peas, another thing which looked cool.
Potatoes, five different types, cropping at different times. Should help with the nasty clay soil.
Artichokes, never tried them but they look so funky, and therefore must taste good!
Leeks, as they're tasty. My surname would suggest that I have some Welsh ancestry somewhere.
More melons, very early ripening small ones, in case we have a really dodgy sumer and the normal ones don't ripen.
Two other peppers, also early ripening.
Herbs, too many to list.
Fruits, which I won't list either.
Wildflowers, for my wildlife area.

And of course more flowers. And I'd like at least one type of winter squash, either acorn or butternut probably.

Looks like I'd better get on with the digging...

2 comments:

  1. That sounds like a very ambitious garden! I'd like to see pictures as things go in, grow, then are ready to harvest!

    I wish I could do something like that, but at the moment, my backyard is not conducive to that kind of thing!

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  2. Sayre, you can have a section of my garden if you want. ;)

    I'm currently working on the idea of making 5 or 6 connected raised beds, maybe 6 inches high. I'll dig up the topsoil, add gravel for drainage, and then mix the soil with compost to fill the beds.

    I'll see what I can do picture-wise, there are some little squash plants I can get pics of right now!

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