Update from the Vegetable Garden

Garden update part three...it's been a few days now since I took these pictures and the weather has cooled of a LOT. There was a frost advisory last night and another for tonight. Here's hoping everything pulls through! I've brought a few things inside, but that's not possible for everything. That said, I present the veggie garden.

Look at those peas! They're climbing the tomato cages nicely, and if you look beyond, you can see the green beans I planted a couple weeks ago. It always amazes me how fast those puppies grow!

The first planting of lettuce is coming along nicely. I'm seeing salad in my near future!

And here is the beginnings of the second planting of lettuce. Last year I (unwisely) planted all my lettuce seeds at once and we were completely overrun. This year, I am trying successive plantings so I only get as much as I can eat at any given time.

If you look closely, you can see where the blueberry has been doing its pollinating thing. I'm really looking forward to some homegrown blueberries!

You can see how my seedlings are coming along. I put some of my tomatoes in larger containers to see if they'll grow larger root systems before I transplant them. I also wanted to be able to keep them in the greenhouse for a little while longer since we're getting some cooler weather.

About to Bloom

I'm pretty excited to report that I have a couple plants that are about to burst into bloom!

My daffodils are one.

Look at the big old bud on there! Looks like I'll have some sunny flowers in a few days.

Also, the blueberry is about to flower. The buds on this one are pretty tiny, but you can make out their pink-tipped buds if you look real close.

I can't for the life of me figure out how to make my camera take a true close up photo without getting blurry on me! Any suggestions??

I have some more seed starting to do today (some more tomatoes, dill and red-leaved perilla), along with a greenhouse cover to fix (the one storm casualty), I've put grommets on it, but need to redo some of the zip ties so it will close all the way.

More Composty Goodness and Some Planting

Another tub of compost showed up at my house on Saturday courtesy of my lovely friends who say they currently have WAY too much of it.

Not sure what I'm going to do with all of it yet (though I'm sure I'll find something!), but I put some of it to work as mulch around my baby blueberry. First though, I had to drag it up the hill to the back of the yard where the garden is. I've definitely had my exercise for the day!

In other news, I got my nasturtiums and peas planted! My next door neighbor stuck two tomato cages in the garden yesterday, so I decided to use those as a trellis for the peas to climb. I'll have to build another one that spans the end of the raised bed later, but for now, I feel like this is a good start.

My nasturtiums went in as a companion to the tulips I potted a few weeks ago, and also in a colorful coffee can I had saved to use as a container, and poked some drainage holes in. Maybe a little strange, but it works, right?

Blueberries and Tulips

I think I mentioned a while back that I ordered a dwarf blueberry bush called "Sunshine Blue" from Park Seed Co. Well, it arrived this morning and when my husband brought the box in the house looking confused, I got really excited. We went to Home Depot to get some potting soil and I went to work!

Here is what the bush looked like when I pulled it out of the box. I was expecting a bare root transplant, but I think this was probably easier to work with.

I already had a large container from an ornamental banana tree that outgrew its welcome. I took that up the hill to the garden area where it will get plenty of sunshine and filled it with potting soil.

Then I placed the baby blueberry, filled the pot the rest of the way and watered it well to settle the soil.

I'd say it was a success! Here is another picture...

While we were at Home Depot getting soil, my husband spotted the blooming flowers. We ended up walking out with a lot more than we'd planned! But he continually surprises me with the things he points at and says "Ooohh I like that! We should get some of those!" We left with some white and purple violas (I'm going to have to retake my pictures of those....will post tomorrow!) and some dramatic red tulips.

Do you ever buy flowers on a whim? What is growing in your garden?

2012 Planting List

I just ordered my seeds for the year! Here is my planting list for this year:

Vegetables

1. Green Beans (Blue Lake, bush type)
2. Peas (Sugar Lace)
3. Tomato (Costoluto Genovese and a container hybrid)
4. Jalapenos
5. Bell Peppers
6. Yellow Squash (Enterprise Hybrid)
7. Lettuce
8. Mustard Greens

Herbs

1. Basil (Mrs. Burn's Lemon)
2. Red Leaved Perilla
3. Dill
4. Rosemary (this is last year's plant that I've - so far - successfully overwintered in the living room!)

I will probably also grow some type of mint and sage.

Flowers

1. Sunflowers (my mother-in-law gave me about half a pound of seeds last fall....I have plenty to share!!)
2. Nasturtium (Whirlybird Mix)
3. Daffodils (these are already in the ground and beginning to sprout)
4. Cleomi
5. Marigold (Inca II Hybrid Mix)

Lastly, I found a self-pollinating, dwarf blueberry bush that can be grown in a container called Sunshine Blue. My plan is to plant it in a large container and sink said container into the ground. That way, when my husband and I decide it's time to move, I can pull up the pot and go!

In other news, my landlord approved my request to put in an in-ground garden/more garden boxes! Hooray!!

What are you planting this year?