The spinach seeds I planted this year were duds. I did not replant because, you know, I had a baby.
The lettuce plants were eaten by birds. Lesson learned, next year they will be encased in mesh while sprouting and shiny ribbons will be tied to the fence around my garden.
I gave up on squash after they all died last year.
I have begun to think I need a “garden consultant” – someone who can show me how and where to plant things in my garden, and visit it periodically to show me how to grow them. After all, as I walk through the neighborhood, I see magnificent gardens with giant assorted squashes, huge lettuces, corn, beans, raspberries… so many good things.
Actually, I did successfully grow beans last year, but no one eats them but me, and there were too many beans for me. So, no more beans.
I had one raging success this year, however: my tomatoes. I started them inside, and now have 14 plants going strong (in the interest of full disclosure, only 12 of those were from starts… I also bought one plant and my mom bought me one plant). They are beautiful, and laden with tomatoes in varying stages of ripeness.
The cherry-sized tomatoes are all starting to ripen, and the beefsteak-sized ones are still light green and growing. Next year, I hope to plant heirlooms, too.
I love the idea of eating things I grow myself, mostly because it means I don’t have to go shopping. How great would it be to go and pick lettuce right before you make a salad? I don’t know, but I hope to find out next year, when I WILL grow lettuce plants successfully. Maybe I’ll get my mom to help me with my garden – she seems to have a killer one at the beach. You’d think that with our amazing Skagit weather, I’d be able to grow all sorts of awesomeness. Conclusion: the problem is me. So! I’m going to learn. Any recommendations on vegetable garden books?
3 comments:
Your tomatoes look great! I keep trying to improve my garden every year, but it's a terribly slow process. Haven't actually read any gardening books, but I've heard that Tomatoes Love Carrots is a good one. I always plan on replanting at least three times and plant at least 20 times more seeds than I actually want. Also, an automated sprinkler has definitely helped my plants survive as I'm not the best at remember to water every day.
Really, replanting that often? I guess I am just lazy/idealistic enough that I think a garden should be planted once and work out just fine. Sigh. It doesn't help that each year we have something crazy going on that takes precedence over garden attention: pregnancy, redoing backyard drainage and landscaping, new baby... Let's hope for a better year next year!
I haven't had much luck gardening either. We had some strawberries and peppers that did okay for a while, but they all died. I'm much better at fruit trees. Those seem to do great in my yard. Probably because as long as their watered and it doesn't freeze too much over the winter the do great. :-D
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