Today is Monday, April 27, 2020. Some parts of the country have been on quarantine/lock down for more than 40 days. I have not, I work at a garden center and am considered essential. That reality has been a hot topic and debated at home with my friends and family. At times I have felt like I was breaking the rules as I drove into work but I feel safe there and want to be with my people. I have been and remain grateful for my job, I don't have to worry about my finances or mental health. I am being taken care of on both fronts when I am at work. Some people are not so lucky. This was the catching up part of the blog, that really feels like all I have done, talked about and lived for the last month and a half. Let's talk about fun things, plants.
If you know me at all, you know I love all the plants and they each have their own reason to be loved. Except a handful, well maybe a dozen. I should write that list sometime. Right now I am in love with vegetable gardening. There is a big movement to plant Victory Gardens again and I am loving it. This year will not be my biggest effort toward gardening though. All my veggies are in containers this year, very large containers. We have decided/agreed on where to put a vegetable garden but there is a fair amount of work that needs to happen before it is ready to be a vegetable garden. The area is a space where we currently have lawn, so first step is remove the grass. Easy enough, but we also want to build a patio. This area is just outside our basement and above the creek so we want to create a large stone patio with a path that will run through the garden. First, we should probably put french doors into the wall so you can even access this new patio from the basement. Like I said before, a fair amount of work.
Container gardening with vegetables isn't difficult though. It is really quite easy these days. All the good vegetables come in patio sized plants now so that you can easily grow them anywhere; balcony, patio, court yard or giant garden. If you have a smaller space and/or are gardening in containers look for clues in the name of the plant; for instance Little Bing Tomato, Patio Snacker Cucumber, Patio Baby Eggplant. If you want to grow larger growing plants, don't be afraid to put them in containers. You just have to be prepared for them when they grow. For example, if you live in an apartment with a balcony you can grow strawberries in a hanging basket. and put a cucumber or pole beans closer to the railing so that you can weave them into the railings. Also grab a trellis to stake up your tomato plant.
One thing I always try to keep in mind is that some vegetables and herbs don't like to be planted together. there are a lot of great articles out there on the interwebs about this topic but I recently found One Creative Mommy's chart for companion planting. For me, this works best. I can easily check my planting ideas and make sure everything will live happily and play nicely with each other. Here is a link to her full article. https://onecreativemommy.com/planning-the-garden-companion-planting-free-printable-helpful-insects/?utm_content=buffer28c8a&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Here are a few pictures of my containers. The vegetables are still babies so you can't even see them. I will give you all updates throughout the growing season about how the garden is progressing.
Plant List (to date): Mortgage Lifter Tomato, Yellow Pear Tomato, Brandywine Tomato, Super Sweet 100 Tomato, Little Bing Tomato, Aristocrat Zucchini, Yellow Crookneck Squash, Celery, Kentucky Wonder Beans, Better Belle Pepper, King Arthur Pepper, Early Jalepeno Pepper.
Opmerkingen