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| our chives, that seem to make it into an awful lot of our summer dinners. |
It looks like we might be out of the winter weather. We tend to think it might just be safe to plant a garden after Memorial Day around here, and would you look at that? Memorial Day already passed!
Unfortunately, we're not at all prepared. No big garden plan in hand, no seeds sent for, nothing. Way back in February, when we were super eager for spring and summer, we went through our seed catalogs and picked our bare minimum choices for a we're-doing-it-simply-this-year garden. The list was so long! We are not good at scaling back!
Last week when Tyler was gone, I wrote my own modified list of what I thought we could manage, what I thought would grow in our super-short season, and what I thought looked tasty and exciting. We'll see what he thinks about it.
We always order from Seed Savers - a company that provides heirloom seeds of traditional and increasingly rare varieties of vegetables and herbs. We've always loved everything we've gotten from them.
Here's (my version) of this years order list -
Lazy Housewife Green Beans
De Cicco Brocolli
Long Island Improved Brussels Sprouts
Dragon Carrots
Double Yield Cucumbers
Orange Bell Peppers
Cheyenne Bush Pumpkins
Waltham Butternut Squash
Stupice Tomatoes
Mongolian Giant Sunflowers
Are you planting a garden this year? Or maybe you're one of the lucky ones who is already well along in the season. What is your favorite thing to grow? I, for one, was getting really excited to plant some flowers this year, but some of our yard plans might mean that's not such a great idea. Luckily our tiny, struggling peony bush took off this year and looks like it will bloom. I can't wait.
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We've been eating last year's over-wintered spinach. It's been getting taller and taller. I've been genteely harvesting just a few leaves here and there. But our young ducklings are voracious for spinach (all kids take note) so I decided to pull up one whole plant and give it to them to play with. The main stem of that spinach was an inch across and hollow! Then I noticed how weird-looking the foliage was getting. This spinach was about to finish its life-cycle and go to seed. Would have already probably if the temps were as much as 50 deg. So last night I pulled 4-5 more and today I'll replant that area. I really needed the space for some more carrots so I have a continuous supply in the summer. Good thing I realized these spinaches were not going to serve well for much longer.
Yes, we are harvesting. But to get a balance - that is our challenge. I'd say right now, when I look at all the potato foliage out there, that we have planted too many potatoes and not enough new spinach plants. Or rutabagas. Or collards. All these are waiting for space. Maybe in a few months I will be glad about the potatoes, though. It's all a giant experiment, and I am thankful we don't actually have to get it perfectly right or we'll perish.
Thanks for asking!
At least the ducklings will be in spinach for the next couple of days. Only a dozen or so leaves per plant actually were fit for last night's supper.
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