Thursday, March 18, 2010

what are you growing this year (and when can i come over and eat?)



i really dont care what the calendar says, spring starts today in my house. commence the all sugary-iced-tea diet!!!

for at least these past 15 minutes the whole world seems to be in line. the kids are snoozing, my errands have been run, tea is tepid (but in a good way, because it's quite warm out right now), all of my reports have been typed, the sun is gorgeous, im literally sitting next to a bag of the first spoils from oakland nursery and grinning. i am hoping to get my hands dirty within a week, putting in two brand-new adventures in growing - asparagus and potatoes. i also got onions because they need to be in the ground in mid-march but they aren't a new endeavor. i went to my favorite garden center yesterday with my friend tara and i had to really restrain myself. I LOVE GARDEN SHOPPING. not that i want to go hog wild and purchase things, but that i just want to touch and smell and see everrryything. i think tara shared my joy so it was good.

i made a rough outline of the garden and you can view it if it strikes your fancy. for those new to my life, we share a garden with two of the best people i know, austin and maggie baxter. they have a rad backyard and well, we rent. so we all pitch in according to our skill and time and means and split the fruits of our efforts. so anyways, this year maggie and i wanted to put greater emphasis on extending our enjoyment of the garden throughout the year, so we are planting more things that can be frozen and canned.

so far the list is:

fruit: raspberries
strawberries (please grow this year...)
blueberries (please don't die this year...)
pear tree (not established yet)

many varieties of tomato (i still refuse to really believe these are fruit)

veggies:
asparagus
yellow & sweet potatoes
many varieties of peppers
bush beans
cucumber
carrots
collards
onions
beets
spinach or kale
garlic
leaf lettuces
broccoli


what are you growing this year (and when can i come over and eat?)

10 comments:

Judy said...

great garden!
I clicked on something and it looked like it changed. I hope I didnt mess anything up. eek...

Olive said...

do you remember what you clicked? (i think you're safe though...)

Team Scienski said...

My huz had been really wanting to grow native prairie grasses, and I want to grow herbs for tinctures. We're just going to do simple things, I'm too pregnant to garden very much.

But echinacea, cucumbers, and sunflowers are on the agenda, as well as melons if we dare :)

Olive said...

we have tried and failed with melons twice now. i dont think we'll try again. too much fertilizer and water or something!

Katherine said...

you have such gorgeous lips!

Jenny H. said...

9 herbs
pumpkins
scads of wildflowers
2 kinds of lettuce
tomatoes
maybe strawberries (I have a strawberry barrel, but we'll see if the deer will leave it alone)
zucchini
peppers
black raspberries
grapes
sunflowers


Jenny Hoffman

Olive said...

katherine - i swear MAC lipstick does something to a lady's mouth. i do like my mouth though if im honest.

jenny - grapes! SO JEALOUS!

Anonymous said...

Jen - do you recommend any particular gardening websites? I am a super beginner. We just built this container garden:

http://www.sunset.com/garden/backyard-projects/ultimate-raised-bed-how-to-00400000011938/print-index.html

but that's as far as we've gotten. Any recommendations on building a rain barrel too? :)

Felicity

Olive said...

i recommend spark people's gardening section of their website.

http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/lifestyle_center_detail.asp?id=17

Anonymous said...

I have gotten hooked on canning and freezing, last summer we put away so much we are only about halfway through our stock and it is already almost April!! Gotta get eating:) Have fun and get a HUGE deep freezer to hold all your yummies!!