Squash in the Annex

My weird (but wonderful) cardboard and plastic garden annex now has squash and zucchini planted in two cheap 7-quart plastic bowls.  I cut holes in the bottom of the bowls for drainage and so that roots can grow through if they need to.  I'm not sure how deep squash roots grow. I can use the bowls as planters again next year, and I can just put some garden fabric in the bottom to keep the soil in if the holes are too big for future use.  The bowls hold about as much soil as I would pile into a normal squash hill, so I thought they'd work.  They're at the far end of the annex, and when they get bigger they'll help hide the cardboard and plastic soil bags.

I had so much soil left over from the little bag I bought for the squash bowls that I started seeds for cucumber, butternut squash, acorn squash, and pumpkin, which I will transplant to more cheap plastic bowls that I plan to buy if the seeds sprout.  Those cucumber and winter squash bowls will go around the corner of the house by the trash can and water hose.  But because the hills are in plastic bowls, I can move them elsewhere if I need to.

Because today was cooler and partly cloudy, I let my indoor herbs and tomato seedlings stay outside all day.  The tomatoes loved it, but the herbs need to stay inside a bit longer. I'm hoping to eventually transplant some of my indoor herbs into the unopened soil bag in the annex.  I also have at least half a planter that I haven't planted yet. I like to keep my options open should I get the urge to plant something else.  Eventually, I'll plant a few turnips, probably in the long planter with the few beets that are already sprouting. I never need tons of any vegetable, but I like a wide variety.

Oh, the Gardens I Grow!

I love gardening!  I love it so much that I have three gardens this year: two at home (plus some seedlings inside) and one at the farm.  The farm garden (see slideshow) is doing well. I didn't plant carefully, so the growth is a little spotty in some places; and I haven't kept up with the weeds, so I'm just now putting down newspaper to keep weeds from growing between rows.  But I'm most excited about my home gardens (see slideshow): both the original front garden that I added last year and my new odd and creative garden annex.

THE ANNEX:  I had wanted to dig up an additional garden on the other side of the porch, but it got hot.  I didn't feel like digging up a 4x10 foot garden plot in 90+ degree heat, so I looked for other options. First, I bought a couple of long planters from Big Lots (they're on sale for $6 now).  I thought I might just cover the area with planters, but that many planters plus potting soil was going to get expensive.  Then I did some research online and found someone who had planted in bags of potting soil without putting the soil in planters, so I decided to try it. I still wanted to cover the entire area with something that would kill the grass/weeds, so I got some moldering bookcase boxes from the basement (which probably weren't helping Matt's allergy cough) and put them out. I put the soil bags and the planters on the cardboard and put a plastic white picket fence around it.  It looks kind of janky (to use an Ashley term) from the porch, but it doesn't look bad from the road.  The fence isn't properly installed because the ground is so hard. I hoed up the grass along the fence line to make it easier to sink the plastic spikes in the dirt, but I'm going to have to wait for a good rain to soften up the ground before the spikes will go far enough in the yard to hold it up securely.  It will also look better when more is growing in the planters and bags.  I've already got herbs sprouting in one of the bags. And I'm looking forward to seeing how the lavender and chamomile I planted in the bags comes up. They sound very pretty and calming.

I love my hoe, which I have named Hoedun after Ghengis Khan's mother. I read a biography of how Genghis Khan's progressive ideas of warfare, commerce, and diplomacy were way ahead of his time and am now a big Genghis Kahn fan.  And now my hoe is Mongolian like my sister. :)  As I said, I love my hoe, which has led to many jokes from my friends; however, I took a quarter-sized chunk out of my palm trying to hoe a fence line for the annex. I didn't realize I had made a blister until it had broken open and gotten dirt in the wound.  When I saw the hole in my hand, my first thought after ouch was "Hoedun bit me!" And it made me smile despite the stinging pain.  My hand is healing well.  I've had to keep it wrapped like a boxer to keep the wound clean, which made me look way more formidable than your average home gardener.

Marigolds, lettuce, peas, cilantro, and carrots at home

I've previously shown photos of my little front garden between the house and the stone path.  It's doing really well.  I probably won't have to buy lettuce for the rest of the summer.  I eat a few raw peas every now and then. The tomato plant is growing like crazy and has its first flower, so I'm looking forward to tomatoes soon.  The whole garden grows visibly by the next time I water it 12 hours later.

I've also got tomato seedlings and herbs inside as well as a planter on the porch with a few herbs and tons of marigolds.

My garden research has also turned up a possible solution for the bindweed problems that won't require digging up my entire garden and replacing the soil. I've read that Mexican marigolds may kill bindweed.  I will definitely be planting Mexican marigolds next year, and I may sow some mint around bindweed strongholds. I've heard mint is invasive, so it will at least fight with the bindweed, and any mint that grows will be great in my summer iced tea.