This Year In the Garden

We’re growing the garden a good bit this year. We started with 3 4′X4′ Raised Beds last year and a patch along our house. This year, we’re adding 3 more 4′X4′ Raised beds, 2 2X8 raised beds and 2 4X8 raised beds. Maybe crazy, but it was so much fun last year that we (I) decided to get crazy! Looking at the list(and mostly at the containers of seeds) seems daunting some days.  But there’s such a therapeutic element of sitting and making lists and getting excited.  Lists of each kind(herbs, veggies, flowers, fruits, greens, tomatoes(they get their own category), roots, “others.”  Lists of what needs to be started early under grow-lights and what needs to be started early outside to love the cold and what is easier to just wait and put in after the last chance of frost is gone.  Amazingly, about 35% of the seeds are already planted.  Two weeks(or was it three??) ago I got plants started in the basement early, just in case they didn’t work. They did and are growing – much to my endless amazement. Yesterday I got two full beds  planted, sorted the rest of the seeds and got even more seeds started in the basement. Not I just need to plant another round of seeds outside in another two weeks to stagger the growth and I’ll be sitting on my hands impatiently waiting for that magical line of the end of the possibility of frost.  It’s late April/early May around here, so I’ll probably spend Easter weekend doing lots of planting and spend a few nights throwing blankets over the beds when it’s going to be extra cold.

The 2011 Garden List(for now):

Arugula – Astro Roquette

Balm Lemon

Basil

Beans – Blue Lake, Kentucky Wonder

Beets – Detroit Dark Red

Carrots – St. Valery, Parisienne and a Colorful Mix, Tendersweet, Scarlet Nantes, Danvers Half Long

Chamomile

Chives

Cilantro

Corn – Sweet

Cucumber – Bush Champion, Dragon’s Egg, Lemon

Dill

Escarole – Batavian Full Heart

Garlic

Ground Cherries

Huckleberries – Chichiquelite

Kale – Russian

Lettuce – Buttercrunch, Grand Rapids Leaf, Black Seeded Simpson

Melons – Jenny Lind, Minnesota Midget Cantaloupe and Kazakh

Mesclun Green Mix

Onions – Brunswick and Bianca di Maggio

Peas – Mammoth Sugar and Tall Telephone

Peppers – Poblano, California Wonder Sweet, Sweet Carnival Mix,  and Chili

Potatoes – Blue, Red and White from potatoes we bought at the farmer’s market

Pumpkins – Miniature Mix, Connecticut Field

Quinoa – Brightest Brilliant

Radishes – Cherry Bell, Early Scarlet Globe

Rosemary

Sage

Shallots

Spinach – Gigante d’ Inverno

Strawberries – Red Wonder and Yellow Wonder, Eversweet, Quinalt, Ozark Beauty

Summer Savory

Sunflowers – embarrassingly too many to list. We’re making the Sunflower House this year and have a whole bunch for the project.

Swiss Chard – Bright Lights

Tarragon

Thyme

Tomatoes – Cherokee Purple, Gardener’s Delight, Reigart Plum, Brandywine Pink, Pink Accordian, Goldman’s Italian-American, Black Cherry, Sun Sugar Cherry, Mr. Stripey, San Marzano, West Virginia Hillbilly, Red Strawberry and 3 Mystery Heirloom varieties

Tomatillos

Watermelon – Moon and Stars

And a whole lot of flowers. This will be my first year with the flowers and I’m dedicating a whole raised bed to them, along with a ton to be planted around the yard. We shall see where this goes!

Anyone want to play along? I want to hear about your garden! What are you planting in your garden this year? Is it a lovely balcony garden? A backyard love? A garden with your kids? Tons of space filled with as much as possible to nourish your family through the winter months? I’d love to hear all about it in the comments!