At the Water's Edge

Showing posts with label spring. Show all posts

Due to my “spring break” vacation at the beginning of the month, I had to delay the start of my garden by a couple weeks. It’s probably not a bad thing, seeing as though we’ve had a very cold spring thus far. However, today I was finally able to officially start my vegetable garden! I had started some seeds indoors a while back, but had not been able to get out to my garden plot and dig in the dirt. I’m really not sure what the proper care of a garden plot entails, but whatever I was supposed to do last fall, I didn’t do. That means that today I had to go and pull up all my old plants, roots and garden stakes from last year.

The only perennial plants that I have in my vegetable garden right now are my strawberries. I’m still wondering if perhaps those belong somewhere else? At any rate, I took the area between the strawberries and the deck and cleaned it up a little. I tilled up the dirt and added a few bags of composted manure and raked it out.

In this area, I ended up planting two rows of snow peas and two rows of spinach. I also planted some salad greens in a pot. The lettuce I grew last year did so well in the pot – I’m hoping these greens will, too. Those are all of the cool weather crops that I have, so that’s all I was able to do tonight. It sure felt good to get things started, though! Also, a couple of days ago Tom came home with some fencing materials. He will be building a 34” high fence around my garden to hopefully keep the bunnies out this year. Wish me luck!

And, in case you were wondering, some of my seeds are doing okay in my sun room. The tomatoes are growing strong (I got a variety pack of heirloom tomatoes and multi-colored grape tomatoes), and the marigolds seem to be doing great, too.

Tomato seedlings

Marigold Seedlings

It’s the peppers I’m worried about. Only a few of my seeds have sprouted. We’ll see what happens – I may have to break down and buy some plants this year.

Look! I might get at least one pepper plant!!

Also, my perennial garden is doing well. The daffodil and tulip bulbs I planted in the fall are all popping up, and hopefully will begin to flower soon. I’m also seeing some new sedum stalks come up, what appears to be some hearty chives, and a few other plants.

That's all for now. I think I have a few more seeds I can start indoors next week. Then I will wait for my cool weather crops to sprout and wait for the weather to warm up so I can plant everything else!

I’m dreaming of spring tonight, so I thought I’d share some of my gardening with you. Last year was the first year I had really tried my hand at gardening. Considering that I don’t have that natural green thumb, I think I did okay. We have a walkway that leads from the back of our garage to our deck behind our house. On one side of this pathway I have a designated an area for a perennial garden. On the other side, I’ve carved an area out for a vegetable garden. Both areas were basically barren when we moved into our house in September 2009. Last year was a good start, but this year I plan to fill up the space and use it better.

Vegetable Garden progress over time - click to enlarge

I’m planning on doing this year’s vegetable garden much the same way as last year. I plan to do most of my plants from seeds because it’s less expensive that way, I think you get more options of vegetable varieties to choose from, and it’s just fun! I will start some seeds indoors in March (tomatoes, bell peppers & hot peppers, and probably some flowers), and will transplant those to my garden area in mid-spring.

Tomato seedlings growing in my sun room last year

The rest of the seeds I will sow directly into the garden. My vegetable garden will be expanded this year to make room for some new plants, among them watermelon, green beans, grape tomatoes, spinach and maybe some potatoes. If everything grows well, it will be a very full space!

Although I’ve only been at it for one year, I’ve already re-arranged my perennials a couple of times. I think I finally have a layout that will work…but we’ll find out come spring! This past fall I planted a whole bunch of bulbs – mostly tulips and daffodils—and did my final re-arrangement of my plans. My hope is to entirely fill up the space with plants, so as to not even be able to see the ground. I was not even close to that last year, but I still think I made some decent progress:

Perennial Garden progress over time - click to enlarg

The pathway is something I’m still trying to figure out. Strange as it may sound, I always wanted a house with a stone pathway. I got one, but it wasn’t very pretty. I think what I would like to do is to grow creeping thyme throughout the whole pathway so that it covers any ground between the stepping stones. I started some creeping thyme from seeds last year, and I ended up with a few plants that flourished. I will need a LOT more this year if I want to begin to try to cover the walkway.

My overall goal with my garden is to create a serene space that I can enjoy, with a variety of plants. I want flowers that I can cut and put in a vase on my kitchen table, and I want vegetables that I can pick and make for dinner. Regardless of how it looked last year, I did really enjoy the time I spent out there, and I look forward to trying it all over again this year!

Here's a few more pictures from last year's garden for your viewing pleasure: