Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Garden of Eden

Last night was supposed to be the ribbon cutting ceremony for the newly formed Ashland Community Garden. It was cancelled due to inclement weather. No comment.

The Garden is just down the street from us so its really convenient. There are always characters there tending to their plots. Its a really nice initiative and I hope it succeeds. The garden got off to a late start this season so I planted the following from plant, not seed, in my plot:
  • Finger Peppers
  • Leeks
  • Shallots
  • Tomatoes
  • Eggplant
Please pray that my plot isn't the weakest. I've been known to kill cacti.

Our home garden is in the ground already too. This year, I decided to step it up and not half ass it. And by 'step it up' I mean, ask people that know what they're doing how they do it. So I embarked on an intense emailing marathon with Jess's dad (don't be jealous that I was granted "Rob" privileges.) He's given me great trade secrets for our expanded garden this year.

This is what we planted from seed.
  • Summer squash
  • Cucumber (Armenian and Sugar Crunch)
  • Green Beans (Italian and Roma)
  • Snap Peas
  • Carrots
  • Broccoli
  • Lettuce (leaf and arugula)
  • Cilantro *
  • Chives *

* These crops didn't take this year. We'll try again next year.

This is what we planted from plants:

  • Hot peppers
  • Tomatoes (Vine and Cherry)
  • Basil
So things are growing, albeit slow, despite the monsoons and soaking rain. The irony is not lost on me that the one year we decide to be all organized is the one year we get way too much rain and not enough sun. This time last year, we were already eating the bounties of our garden. Oh well, we'll wait and see what happens. At least we finally got our rain barrel so on the off days when we don't get rain and need to water the garden, we've been using the collected water.


In other signs of life, the blueberry bushes that were here when we moved in have sprouts that are starting to turn blue. Supposedly these do best when May and June are rainy, followed by lots of sun in July. We'll keep our fingers crossed.



The hydrangea monstrosity is in full bloom. Please come and cut some flowers. Give them to your mom, she'll love them.



Happy gardening!

1 comment:

  1. i just planted my stuff this weekend... i might need your help!!!!!! maybe this will put a reverse curse on the rain, since i want it now : )

    ReplyDelete