Four years ago, I had a wee garden.
A year later, there was an expansion. And compost!
It grew things!
Something happened last year... Probably a disaster.
This year?
We're going big time.
Last fall, The G tore up the nasty-to-shovel-snow-off and generally-horrible "patio". Then his super-cool and helpful uncles came up to ye olde Minnesota to lay a new slab [which is an insane process to watch; I think the whole thing took about 30 minutes and they just JUMP IN THE MIDDLE OF IT and it goes from looking a mess to being this gorgeous concrete* in no time].
With a new rectangular plot for the garden, there was room for a third bed and time to actually plan what the hell I was going to do with it.
I picked up an edition of Square Foot Gardening (which had great info, but I hated the dude's tone) and got busy staking out plots.
When the snow was gone and the grass was green, we built the trellis for tomatoes, sugar snap, squash plants, and other climby things. I watched this video about 10 times:
They were super easy to make and I don't hate how they look. Plus, I'm stringing solar lights between them. Festive!
Despite planting quite a few varieties from seed indoors, my over-enthusiastic garden hands (aka, children) killed off most of them by drowning them right before we were supposed to transplant them. So, the first week in May, my sister-in-law came over and helped plant from seed again. We have:
- Bibb lettuce (which is the same as Butter? Yes? No? Because we planted both...)
- Marigolds galore
- Swiss Chard
- Endive
- Romaine
- Dill
- Cilantro
- Basil
- Oregano
- Rosemary
- Stevia
- Lavendar
- Tomatoes (4 different kinds)
- Sugar Snap Peas
- Acorn Squash
- Zucchini
- Carrots
- Onions
- Brussels Sprouts
- Sweet Peppers
- Some kind of flowers
So, if any of you need any lettuce this summer, head on over. SO MUCH LETTUCE.
Each of the girls got their own pot to put whatever they wanted to in it (more on that later), and there's a "mosquito control" pot that I have as well.
We also have two blueberry bushes and one fancy-ass apple tree that are being espalier-ed (yeah, like the French do with their grape vines) to create a fence (and fruit!) on our property line.
And a bird bath.
Let's see how this goes.
*JP - Did I refer to it correctly?!