Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Food We're Growing and Some Silly Hats

Now that almost everything has been planted, either from seedlings or seeds, I thought I'd post a quick run-down of the things we're growing. 

You'll soon understand why I've been trying to pull in the reins on our gardening, both in terms of spending and planting.  We've planted a lot.  Almost too much, I think.  We have five raised beds, several ground level beds along our chain-link fence, a ground level bed along the privacy fence, a slightly raised bed behind our shed, and another ground level bed in front of our back deck.  And those are just the veggie beds.  Who knows what will be abundant and what will struggle?  This is only our second year gardening, so we're still very much novices.

Here are the food plants we're trying to grow:

Asparagus
Beets
Bell peppers
Blueberries
Carrots
Collard greens
Cucumbers
Eggplants
Garlic
Green beans
Lettuce, mixed
Lettuce, Romaine
Okra
Onions, green
Onions, yellow slicing
Parsnips
Peas, snow
Peas, sugar snap
Potatoes
Radishes, red round
Radishes, white "icicle"
Rhubarb
Scarlet runner beans (see below)
Squash, acorn
Squash, spaghetti
Squash, zucchini
Swiss chard
Tomatoes
Turnips
Watermelon

The scarlet runner beans are great climbers with red flowers; the vines will hide the paint-peeling lattice below our back deck AND provide food.  You can eat the pods when they are young (like green beans) and eat the seeds when they are more mature (like lima or pinto beans).

We have some ornamental trees in both the front and back of our house, but most of our flowering plants will be out front.  I'll post more about them once we get them planted.

Sorry there are no pictures, but the gardens aren't much to look at yet.  In a couple of weeks they should be photo-worthy.  Instead, here we are in our new silly gardening hats.


9 comments:

Miranda said...

Love the hats!! If all of those veggies grow, you will have a yummy summer and this fall you better fire up the canner. I haven't gotten a thing planted yet. I better get with it!

slugmama said...

Love the hats!
And there are far from silly....add some rhinestones and feathers and then you got the silly market cornered.lolol

You've got quite an ambitious garden!
I'll be interested in seeing what does well and what not-so-much.
We can't grow melons here no matter how much I want to...just not enough hot days.
How did your tomatoes do last year? Just wondering if you got hit with the late blight like we did in the northeast.

Osage Bluff Quilter said...

Love the hats. I want one!
do you plant any flowers around your garden to ward off insects?
Our peas are sticking their little heads up about 3 inches, potatoes are up, lettuce, spinach, radishes and onions are also showing through.
we just could use a little rain. It's not forcasted until Friday.

Annie Jones said...

Miranda: Thanks for reminding me...I need to take the canner lid to the extension office and have them test the pressure valve. It will probably need a new seal, too.

Slugmama: I'm not a hat person, so the hat FEELS silly to me. And Shane is more of a bill cap guy, so the straw hat looks a little odd to me. :)

Our tomatoes did well last year, except for a bit of overcrowding. We had an airborne fungus on our cucumbers, though, and squash vine borers in the zucchini. :(

OBQ: We got them at Orscheln. Mine was $7, his was $6. I tied a scarf around mine for a softer look. :)

Yes, we do plant flowers, especially marigolds (here's a pic from last fall). We just haven't got that far yet this year.

Annie Jones said...

Slugmama: Sorry, I was mistaken. Our tomatoes did have a fungus or something very late in the season. By that point we'd had our share, so we just let them go. I'm not sure what it was, and had forgotten about it until I looked back at an old post.

Sheila said...

Wow--y'all are going to have an amazing garden this year. Think of how much y'all can put up if everything goes well.
Love the hats--I actually went looking for one just like yours on Monday---I couldn't find one though.
Gosh, I am really rethinking our not having a garden this year.

Sonya Ann said...

You two are super cute!!!
And I think that you have a lot of plants. I would be afraid but I have faith in the two of you. I've been trying to find a way to turn that little garden by our back door into a cold storage unit this winter. It is always something, isn't it?

Doug Robertson said...

Not so sure about the questionable hats, but I suppose you do probably need them out there taking care of the plantation y'all have started! Braggart. I got excited planting just my half dozen or so variety. Jealous here.

Annie Jones said...

Sheila: We got them at Orscheln. Do you have those? They are a farm and home supply store.

SonyaAnn: Just stick a deep freeze out there. No, really, it'll look just fine.

Doug: Two or three of each veggie doesn't a plantation make. I think the truth to the matter is that the more we plant, the less Shane has to mow. :)