Ms. Brown Thumbs garden journal.

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I thought it might be fun to keep a garden journal here so that you could learn what happens when a brown thumbed girl sincerely tries to plant a garden.

I'm lucky that I live in a place where it is nearly impossible to kill a plant - if you throw some seeds at the ground you are very likely to have something grow.

I will need lots of expert advice, written at a 5th grade level (to prevent my eyes glazing over - I am not looking to be the most successful gardener on the planet) so please just let me have it!

Things like what needs to be "caged" and "what needs to be staked" and "is there anything edible that grows in mostly shade" and "will my neighbors think I'm insane if I really go ahead and plant that corn in my front yard".

Also, my ornamental plants can fend for themselves - they always have the first year blahs but come in hot and heavy the next year. I'll mostly be planting edible stuff this year.

So.

To begin the journal.

Nothing is in the ground yet but here is what is in the works:

Started in jiffy pots last week:

Heirloom Red Brandywine Tomato
Asparagus Beans (They're a yard long!)
Golden Cross Bantam Sweet Corn
Crimson Sweet Watermelon
Heirloom Connecticut Field Pumpkins

Started in jiffy pots today:

Little Caesar Romaine Lettuce
Roma Tomatoes

Tomorrow - straight into ground:

Sugar snap peas
Burpeeana Early Peas

Purple Haze Hybrid Carrots (They're purple!)
Touchon Carrots
Imperator Carrots
Nantes Coreless Carrots
Parisian Market Tumbelina Carrots (They're so circular and darling!)

I've got some other seeds to plant in jiffy pots as soon as I have jiffy space but we'll leave that for later.

So okay garden gurus - help the little idiot out - give me the most basic stuff I need to know considering that I do already know the information on the back of each seed packet.

In return, I promise to let you make fun of all of my failures in every way that you see fit. Please keep in mind that I am a fifth grader in gardening years.

Your humble student,
boomerang

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The only thing you are growing that I've had experience with is the Early peas. Very easy to grow but also very little in return for the work. They spread out a LOT so make sure you give them lots of room.

I'm sticking with cukes and eggplants in containers this year. I wish my yard had more open area with direct sunlight so I could have a real veggie garden again. I'll have to live through your gardening deeds! Very Happy

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One of my most successful vegetable gardens was an accident. I had a heaping pile of tree mulch (ground up cedar and maple, mostly, I think), and I had a bunch of tomatoes, cucumber and pepper plants, but I hadn't yet made the actual garden. The season was getting on, so in desperation I kinda threw all the plants into the mulch heap.

I could not keep up with production. The plants kept giving and giving. The best were the cherry tomatoes, which I was giving away to neighbours, then casual acquaintances in my office building, and finally to complete strangers. They were so sweet that one person told me they ate them for dessert.

So, I'd say if you do anything at all, mulch mulch mulch! Very Happy

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Okay!

Now I'm thiniking both eggplants AND mulch.

My yard is nothing but open area and sunshine. My backyard garden bed is about 6x25 and I'm planting in my front yard too. I also have some containers that I might have to move to a sunnier area (but they look so pretty where they are!)

But really the whole thing is just for fun. We got a lot of crazy seeds at Mo's birthday garden party so we are planting wacky stuff.

Honestly, I think that anything will grow here. Last year Mo just threw a bunch of stuff down. I whacked it in and we ate. I'm almost worried that taking a serious approach will yield nothing.

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boomerang wrote:

I'm almost worried that taking a serious approach will yield nothing.

Go with what works and have fun! That accidental garden that I spoke of, also had the cucumbers intertwined with the tomatoes and the peppers. It was the antithesis of orderliness, but I thought it looked like a growing salad.

I read somewhere that it is actually beneficial to mix up vegetable plants -- less disease, insect infestation, etc. That is, for compatible plants it's beneficial and I guess watch out for incompatible ones. Oh, and don't forget the marigolds! My green-thumbed mother always planted marigolds around and throughout her veggie garden to ward off certain insects.

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I've tried both carrots and corn.

The carrots were OK, but I over-fertilized and the branched a whole bunch. Sandy soil, no new fertilizer is the way to go.

The corn was a disaster, because I didn't plant enough of it. The directions said to plant a such-and-such sized square, but I tried to strech my harvest by staggering the planting. It turned out that I didn't have enough mature plants to pollinate, so the ears didn't grow.

If you have old carpet scraps laying around, you can lay them between the rows for both keeping your knees clean and weed supression.

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I carefully avoid all responsibility for growing anything by making it my job to build the arbors, pergolas, benches, walkways and all the non-living addenda which a good garden needs...

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Building a pergola over our patio is one of my projects for this summer.

My garden was fun for a couple of summers, but Texas heat combined with low yields kinda killed my enthusiasm.

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Last year I had one stray corn plant grow in my garden and it produced two ears of corn. My neighbor called it the miracle corn plant and would stare at it in awe. I had no idea that corn was so temperamental about company before that.

I'm planting the corn to act as a kind of screen for an awkward window at the front of my house. The window lets in beautiful afternoon light but keeping the shade open allows every passerby to look right into the house.

I love the phrase "accidental garden", Tico. That is really what I had last year. In many cases I had no idea what was even planted as Mo just had a little seed party while I wasn't looking. It was pretty fun.

Hmmm.... non living addenda.... I might need some of that. My paper had a cool article a few weeks ago about building climbing structures for plants out of "found" materials. I was thinking of trying some of that kind of building rather than purchase store bought stuff. (Heehee - I can see Mr. B's eyes rolling even as I type that!)

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Ah. Some "honey-do," as well....

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Oh gosh no - not a "honey-do" at all!

Mr. B seems to prefer the store bought stamp of approval materials for anything and everything while I prefer to indulge my ..... uh..... artistic (yeah, that's it) inclinations!

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I have 2 arbors, one pergola (and a deck for it to sit on) and some picnic benches to build-- we have a huge yard.

I'm much too busy to garden!

At least, that's the story I tell my fiancee whenever she tries to give me gardening chores...

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Ohhh! Your yard sounds like my neighbor's yard. Their yard, while not huge, makes great use of space with these little pavillions.

They let Mo and I come pick raspberries every year and I just sit their coveting and coveting.

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Oooh, garden structures...! I haven't even gone there. (Plot, plot, plot...)

The list of seeds sounds wonderful, especially the purple carrots!

Re: mixing vegetables, we just read a book about a granddaughter helping her green-thumbed grandma start a garden, and they planted radishes and carrots together because one grows faster and loosens the soil for the other.

I've also seen that about marigolds, Tico.

We have basically no sun (in the gardening sense -- we have sun but it's all "part shade" or "full shade" gardening-wise) so no veggies. Although we did just plant a row of sunflower seeds against the fence -- there's a strip of like 3 feet of sun there that comes over the house (it's on the north side). Hoping those will work.

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This looks good! "Good" and "bad" veggie companions...

http://colleenscorner.com/Cplants2.html

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Well, that's interesting about marigolds. We avoid planting them around anything here because they attract red spider mites. (A real big problem when it gets hot.) I guess that's not such a big deal where you guys are.

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Hmmm....

Day one of my journal:

I didn't get it all done. I got called into work for a bit and I had to take Mo with me. To get him to cooperate while I was with the client I told him that I would take him to the super cool swimming pool right when I got finished. So we went swimming and between that and work I only got peas and purple carrots planted.

I really have to get the asparagus beans transplanted tomorrow which means I have to build a pole doodad for them to climb and the corn really needs to get in too.

So some of today's stuff is going to have to wait until.... Saturday?

Anyway...

Working with Mo reminds me that this is more of a chaos theory type life than any kind of botanical or horticultural science type life. If one pea planted in a hole is a good idea then 10 peas planted in a hole must be a great idea.

As the entire packet of peas cost less than $2.00 who the hell cares?

Things were going very well. Mr. Tiki Soki was blasting the newbies with a dose of H20 and everybody was cool. Mo takes Mr. Tiki to make a water slide -- okay...... then to his treehouse to make a ..... who knows....

I say "Um. I don't think that is a real good idea. Do you?" He says "Yes" so I'm like..... "be careful".

So of course he falls out of his tree house and the work day comes to an end.

Day two looms!

I'm wondering if columbine works similar to marigolds as many of the garden party attendees gave us packets of columbine.

What will tomorrow hold in store?

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Oh, I love columbine! (It's a perennial, BTW. Comes back every year.)

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Day two:

My doctor couldn't see me today and it was suggested that I try to visit the walk in clinic after 6 PM tonight. Since that ain't gonna happen I decided to keep myself busy until I could begin to self medicate with a little wine (right now).

I planted more carrots and transplanted corn, asparagus beans and pumpkins into the yard. I repotted the heirloom tomatos into peat post and started the bell peppers and catalope in jiffy pots.

I also started some colombine as a tribute to Eva and some mixed cut flower things that I have no idea what I'll do with. Perhaps I'll pot them up and leave them on my neighbor's porches for a little treat.

In between bursts of productivity I sat at my neighbor "Toni's" table and groused about the state of the world and played with Mo in Mr. Tiki Soki.

(Mr. Tiki Soki hooks up to your hose for hours of fun:

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0002TG468.01._SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg

)

I have a feeling that I will have way too much food growing but there is the happy possiblity that I will die first and thereby avoid eating everything we are growing.

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A tribute to...me? I am actually blushing!

Columbine are wonderful, old-fashioned plants. I remember seeing them in my grandmother's garden when I was tiny. Like many perennials, I just wish they bloomed all season long.

Are you still in pain, or is the wine helping?

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Ms. Brown Thumbs garden journal.

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