Garden - with pictures

Our lilac is about to go into full flower - today it really started to open, and the scent was heavenly. It grows next to our living room window (it must be 12 feet tall) and when we open the window the scent of lilacs -which I love - wafts through the house.

No blog post with pictures is complete without one of Tessa - here she is with some flower pots in front of our house.

Tulips in our front garden bed....

I've had some requests for pictures of our garden, so I'm obliging. I have to say, I am very, very proud of my work in the garden. My body is not used to the physicality of such work, and I started this project with almost NO knowledge of gardening, but I'm learning as I go. First I read at least a half a dozen books on gardening (no, scratch that...probably more than a dozen books) from the library, then Ryan did the grass removal, and since then it's been dribs and drabs of work as my body will allow.

Currently, the crops in the ground are:

- two kinds of carrot seeds

- leeks (now I'm learning that there are autumn leeks and winter leeks and I have no idea what I've planted...it just said "leeks")

- two kinds of onions

- early cabbage (which doesn't look like it's doing well....any ideas, anyone?)

- two kinds of sugar snap peas

- four kinds of strawberries (in addition to our alpine strawberries from last year, which overwintered well and are doing fabulously in the bit pot)

- kale

- mixed lettuces

- two kinds of blueberries

In pots in the back, I have planted cilantro, and I have basil growing in the kitchen. Parsley, chives, and oregano overwintered really well in a planter, and we always have rosemary in the raised bed. I still want to plant basil in the ground, as well as thyme, garlic, and some other herbs.

In old yogurt and salsa containers, sitting in a warm window in the basement, I have two kinds of tomatoes and an early pepper variety, all from seeds. I'm also planning to get some more tomato starts, because I love tomatoes, and I would even like to can some.

I still have radishes, beets, spinach, and more lettuce that need to be planted.

And if I get all that done, then I want to prepare the raised bed for potatoes and two kinds of squash (one summer and one winter squash)...but I'm not there yet.

Pictures!

First, the view of our garden from the front porch.....looks like a lot of dirt, doesn't it?! We've planted in rows, with mulched walkways between the rows so that we can tend the vegetables.

Next, a picture taken of 1/2 of the garden from the view looking from the street. The front poles are bamboo supports (bamboo=sustainable resource) built to hold up the sugar snap peas. We planted sugar snap peas from starts, and also from seeds (one set to each teepee). We'll see which ones grow best.

Next, a close up of one row - this one has rainbow Swiss chard and mixed lettuce plants, from starts. The soaker hose runs through the middle, and I think we need to mulch on top, too, when the plants are a little bigger. The soaker hose is a place-holder right now, as with spring rains we haven't watered at all. Our plan is to hook up the soaker hose to a rainbarrel at the corner of the house, and harness a rainfall "harvest."

Near the front flower beds, a strawberry patch. So far I've got 17 plants in (not including the 5 or so Alpine strawberries), including Shuksan, Rainier, Quinault, and "everbearing" (?) varieties. I think I'll buy a few more - our family will eat as many strawberries as we can grow, no problem, and sun-sweetened on the vine they are more delicious than anything I've ever tasted. Today I mulched around the strawberries, in part to keep down weeds and keep in moisture, etc., but also because I'm told that if strawberries sit on dry mulch they don't rot as easily, and slugs don't like the harsh (rough) mulch, so will avoid them, too. We'll see if that's true!

The view of the blueberry patch - it's hard to see more than mulch in this picture, but if you look very closely you can see four small blueberry bushes (with tags hanging off them, identifying their type and care) in the foreground. You can also see our neighbors' big blueberry bushes, which are years old and doing well, along the property line. The picture after that is a close up (sideways, sorry) of one of the bushes.