Lil's Garden

 We are finally getting some things in the big garden. The schedule was complicated by snowstorms and windy weather. Here's what we've planted so far: potatoes  collards  broccoli and cauliflower lettuce kale  peppers They all seem pretty happy for now. We just hope the wind doesn't blow their heads off and that the deer prefer the salad in the rest of the field to our little garden patch. I'm waiting one more day for the big wind to blow by before I put the tomatoes in the ground.    Some of them are already making tomatoes in their little bitty pots.   I bet they will like to stretch out their roots in the warm moist soil. The feral zinnias are back. We have decided to just let them go for it in their two beds. I planted some sunflower seeds among them and a few Swiss chard plants that I had.  We also planted pea, radish, spinach, and beet seeds, but they haven't come up yet. The little garden continues to be a joy. The poppies have popped....

 Well, since the weather has been so warm I have been intending to begin planting the peas, carrots, spinach, potatoes, and onions. However, one thing or another got in front of that job, and I didn't get it done. Now it looks like we might have one more winter chill and maybe even some snow during the next week. So I guess I'm glad I procrastinated. We do have the beds all ready to go,  and the seedlings are well on their way. I transplanted a few of the "volunteers" from the big garden into the little "perennial" garden. The Crawford lettuce looks good, as does the Swiss chard. I moved the lavender back there also, and it looks to be hanging in there. I also transplanted some cilantro. I'm not sure it will survive the freeze though, and the poppies are looking hearty.  The other perennials look good too. Lavender Rosemary Fennel Oregano The big garden is empty now except for some arugula,  the shallots,  and three blackberry bushed that look like they ...

 We are thankful for the inch of rain that we got yesterday. I'm afraid I haven't gotten the fall garden thing figured out. I had very little success with the things I planted a couple of months ago in the fall garden. It was very hot and dry at the time. Then my gardening was pleasantly interrupted by a month-long stay in Alaska for the birth of my grandson, Isaiah.   However, now it seems that some of those stubborn seeds are happy about the cooler, wetter weather.   The shallots have started all over again. Some of the Crawford lettuce is up  and spinach  and Swiss chard  a fine stand of Mesculin mix  and radishes  and daikons Last week I started four flats of seedlings, and some of them are already peeking out. They will go under the grow lights tomorrow probably. In the middle of these cold, dreary, fallow days, it good to see signs of new life. When images of desecration fill my vision, it is refreshing to be reminded that our worl...

      Tomato seedlings are everywhere! I think my compost pile didn't get hot enough to kill the tomato seeds that were deposited there this summer from our abundant harvest of tomatoes, and tomato seedlings are coming up in every little pot that has compost in it. I gave some jalapenos to a neighbor, and some tomato seedlings also. The tomatoes that I intentionally grew from seeds are doing well, and the vines are loaded with tomatoes that we will begin harvesting pretty soon.  A couple of years ago I read a fascinating book, The Triumph of Seeds , by Thor Hanson. It's an amazing story of the fortitude, strength, resiliency, adaptability, and persistence of seeds. I'm learning about that fact in the garden. Hardly any of the seeds I planted in the fall garden have germinated. I still have a lot to learn about fall gardening.   The tiniest of the seeds, however, did germinate, and I harvested a pretty little handful of radishes yesterday, which ended up in our...