Garden 2013: More Ambitious Every Year

This year's garden is getting off to a good start. I made grand plans over the winter, and they're pretty much in place, ready for planting.

The biggest innovation is a border of concrete blocks. They will keep mowing clippings out and provide a potentially attractive border. And the holes in the blocks will serve as planters for lettuce, herbs, and root vegetables.

The Pea Haven

  

On the shadier side of the house where I planted purple hull peas last year, I've built two wide rows for purple hull peas and green beans. The concrete blocks on this side will have greens and herbs. I've already planted two types of kale, chard, spinach, basil, parsley, and cilantro. The dinosaur kale and chard have already sprouted. I'll plant a little more spinach and herbs this week. And a few weeks later I'll plant some more so that I can stagger the harvests.

The Front Garden
The front garden isn't changing. I've already planted snap peas like I did last year. I'll put some colorful planters of herbs behind/above the peas.

The Squash Ghetto & Expanded Annex


Last year I had squashes on the shady side of the house, and they didn't do very well. This year I'm moving them to the opposite side in hopes that they'll grow better. I'm ghettoizing the squashes because they like to take over. They can now do whatever they want in their ghetto. I'm planning watermelon, pumpkin, yellow summer squash, zucchini, butternut squash, acorn squash, and spaghetti squash.

And while I was adding to that side of the house, I expanded the Annex on the front of the house so that I now have a wrap-around garden. I'm going to get bigger pots for tomatoes. Their root systems are bigger than any of my planters can handle. I plan to plant corn in front of the front windows to keep the tennis court lights out of the bedroom. I've already put some asparagus roots in one of the planters. In a few years I'll be able to harvest asparagus in the early spring. I've got many more veggies planned for this area, including jalapeno, fennel, two kinds of eggplant, and kholrabi. We'll see how it goes.

The blocks around these areas will have root vegetables. I've already planted a few radishes, carrots, and turnips. I've got more of those as well as beets, parsnips, and leeks to plant in the coming weeks. I'm terrible at thinning root veggies, so I'll just plant one or two in each hole so that I don't have to thin them.

The Squash Ghetto will be possible this year because I bought a rain barrel to put at that corner of the house. A friend from church is going to help me install it. Watering with the hose on the opposite side of the house would be difficult, so now I'll have a closer water source. And I'll be using free rain water. I bought a soaker hose that will slowly seep water, and I'll lay it across my tomato plants and through the squash ghetto. I'll still water everything, but they should all be much happier with lots of sun and regular watering.

Planters & Porch
I bought some strawberry plants from Wal-Mart and put them in a strawberry pot. I've seedlings started for a type of cherry tomato that grows well in hanging baskets, and I've got another hanging basket made for strawberries. I thought I'd get another type of strawberry for that planter so that I'll have strawberries for several months.

Lawn

The blueberry bush I planted last year is looking rough. So I bought it a couple of friends. Maybe the three blueberry bushes will encourage each other.

Last fall I planted something entirely ornamental: daffodil bulbs. I planted them in a ring around the crepe myrtle tree, and they came up beautifully this spring. Daffodils are my favorite flower. Since those bulbs did so well, I bought some iris bulbs a couple weeks ago and planted them between the clumps of daffodils. The irises have already started to peek out of the ground. I'm looking forward to a second wave of color from the flowers as well as the shocking pink from the crepe myrtle.

Those are my plans for this year's garden. I've got seedlings for several veggies started. I'm going to introduce them to the outside gradually so that they don't die when they're transplanted. I'm also toying with ideas about planting potatoes and garlic. As long as I don't have to expand the garden again, I'm willing to throw just about anything into the dirt to see what will grow.