I’m slowly but surely figuring out where I want to put things. I’m also remembering the way that my dad used to plant the family garden when I was little.
The peas and fava beans are sprouting. In front of them in a square-ish foot garden style I planted Swiss chard, beets, and spinach. I say square foot-ish because I knew I wanted squares, not rows, but I wasn’t sure how to measure it out. So I broke a bunch of sticks into approximately 12 inches and used them to lay out the squares. DH is not a fan of how it looks, but I will probably remove them once they start coming in.
Along my sidewalk I put in rows of different colors of lettuce and radishes. I wasn’t sure how to space those, either. I thought about making seed tape, but that seemed like a lot of work (making a paste of flour and water and gluing them to toilet paper, letting it dry, then setting it out). So I took Popsicle/craft sticks, tied a string from one end of the row to the other, and broke another stick the appropriate length to use as my spacer.
The radishes and lettuce are starting to sprout, so that’s exciting! No carrots or parsnips yet. I’m also carefully nurturing my seed starts. I thought about setting up grow lights, but then I decided I’d try using the window again. If it doesn’t work, I’ll just buy some plants at the farmers market.
This past weekend I also planted some asparagus and rhubarb transplants. We’ll see how those come up. It’s amazing to think that such little fronds will become big plants!
In my neglected naturalized backyard, mother nature has been doing the planting. The volunteer raspberry has created more canes:
I also have some unidentified flowers which may be weeds, and may or may not be edible. Hoping to get them identified soon:
As I’m quickly running out of room for what I want to grow in the front yard, I have wondered if I should have torn up parts of the backyard as well. I purchased a variety pack of medicinal herb seeds and need to find them homes. I may end up putting them in the backyard in little pockets. I sort of like treating the backyard like a little woodland.
One final tip I wanted to share–and this is probably not new to anyone, but I was proud of myself for figuring it out–is using a cleaning bucket for a gardening bucket. I had looked at some rather pricey models in the garden department, but couldn’t justify spending $30. So I went to the cleaning supply aisle and found a cute plastic cleaner carrier that works rather well, and it was under $15. So now I have my little bucket ready for weekend seed planting:
How is your garden growing?
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The white flower you’re wondering about is definitely the dreaded weed Garlic Mustard. See my recent post: http://charlieandjo.wordpress.com/2012/04/14/warning-garlic-mustard/ . The lovely scalloped leaves are the telltale sign that distinguishes it from phlox. Tall phlox usually blooms later in summer; shorter woodland phlox is blooming now in Maryland. Weeds aside, I love your squarish foot planning. When things start to grow I think your husband will appreciate it as well. Jo @ Let’s Face the Music
Thanks! I have a purple version too, so that sort of threw me. Looks like I’ll have to find some garlic mustard recipes!
I’d concur on the garlic mustard. Pesto might be an easy adaptation for using it. I know that when we did the “plant hike” w/ George gedgepeth a few yrs back, he tossed it into an impromptu stir fry he whipped up over a campfire.
Kudos to you for creative thinking re the gardening tote! Buying something “made especially for” some purpose is very often a ripoff – targetted to a niche market. Lots of times, trollling the aisles at a dollar store will turn up “just as good as” items for the resourceful shopper. If you don’t expect to give something really heavy use such that durability is a major issue, I find I can often save a few $$ and put the difference toward something that merits spending to get the best… Like quality plants, perhaps – something that could make a difference in yield or quality!
Hope your plants enjoyed the you-didn’t-have-to-water moisture last night…
I posted the pics on an herbal forum, and the consensus is that it’s NOT garlic mustard – it’s a money plant. Which come to think of it, I did notice some of those in the fall. I didn’t recognize it in its spring form. The light purple is periwinkle.
Yes, my plants and I loved the automatic watering last night! I was just thinking yesterday morning that I should give them some water, and then the rains came. Love when that happens.
The second pic is purple dead nettle, aka henbit. It is said to be edible and medicinal. You gotta love free food!
thank you for the confirmation! I will have to look it up in my herb books.
Money plant, eh? I had some of those appear 2 weeks ago. Thinking it was garlic mustard, I pulled it.
they are very similar looking! The giveaway was that the flowers on my plant were bigger than on garlic mustard. That and the purple was a hint, since I’m pretty sure garlic mustard only comes in white, at least that I’ve been able to find online.
Not directly related to your topic, but thank you so much for identifying the plant in pic #2, several of which are growing in the shade of my lilacs here in PA. There in the shade, I’ve purposely planted shade-growing plants; however, several new plants of a type I’d never seen before grew up and bloomed this spring and I thought to myself, “Those look pretty! I’m so glad I created a shady habitat in suburbia!” Your post, with its photo, set me straight. It is undoubtedly garlic mustard. I was so interested, I looked it up on Wikipedia and found out it is an invasive species from Europe that I should eradicate, partially because a species of butterfly is tricked into thinking it’s good to lay eggs on, then it turns out to be poisonous to it! Learn something new every day (esp. when you were raised a townie).
Ironically enough, I grew up the daughter of a farmer and my mom worked in a greenhouse for many years, and I still have to have help identifying plants!
Great idea for the planting bucket! I have a cleaning bucket similar to yours that has been stuck away under my steps for years. Now I have a wonderful new use for it. I knew I shouldn’t get rid of it:)
I have both those weeds here in Oregon – the purple deadnettle comes up everywhere, though neither of these bother me as much as bittercress (“poppers”) and invasive violet. Ah, well- the price we pay as gardeners- it’s still fun playing in the dirt. 🙂
Great tip about the cleaning bucket, btw- thanks for sharing!