Can someone please tell me why digging in the dirt feels so good? Seriously. Lately I feel like a kid again and I just can’t get enough. My hands are getting rough, my socks are stained and I haven’t worn any make up since I got here. I couldn’t be happier.
Like my new garden markers? Carrots, beets and basil have all been planted. I’ll wait to plant beans, squash and melons until just before I leave. I also need to get cilantro, dill and a few other herbs {maybe thyme} in the ground.
Last spring I planted a boatload of chive seeds… this week I divided them up and replanted them into a neat and tidy row. I’m hoping that once the flowers bloom the seeds will drop and give me a nice 12″ row of chive plants.
I also discovered that what I thought was 2 clumps of overwintered onions growing in the garden were in fact several garlic plants that I forgot to pull last summer. Oops.
I decided to take a chance and separate one of the clumps. Maybe they’ll die, or maybe, just maybe I’ll be rewarded with 7 full sized heads of garlic. We’ll see.
So far I have planted {from left to right}
Swiss chard, onions, strawberries, carrots, beets, basil, chives, green onions, tomatoes, zucchini, radish, lettuce, spinach and a few raspberry plants.
Life is good.
~Mavis
Kathy Gardner says
It continues to amaze me at how much you can grow in small spaces. I live in an apartment that is more like a ground floor small townhouse and I have a big flower bed across the front porch. Last spring I planted strawberries as a border in front of all of my shrubbery and flowers. I am harvesting strawberries like a crazy woman! They have far exceeded the production I ever imagined.
I live on an end unit and I was allowed to put in a raised bed up against the brick building wall. I can grow just about anything in there in quantities that I need except for corn. Corn just takes up too much room. I have grown okra almost every year but I don’t think I’ll grow it this year. I have about 30 tomato plants this year. LOL I plan on dehydrating tomatoes and sharing fresh tomatoes with my neighbors.
I love to grow squash and cucumbers but the bugs get my squash every year. This year I am get some of that dicentious earth, or whatever it is called, and I’m killing bugs. I have a small 4’x4′ square bed by the back porch and the Swiss chard, parsley, eggplants and peppers love it there. They are thriving. I planted rhubarb this spring but it just will not grow in Alabama I’m afraid. I am not giving up yet though.
I added another small bed this year that measures about 4’x4′ and I planted pole beans in it. They are flourishing. I had a friend bring over 8′ tall bamboo poles he cut on his property and I’ll use those as stakes that rest up against an old clothesline. The beans can grow up the bamboo poles then climb around on the clothesline if they want to.
I have to replant my cucumbers today or tomorrow because the first planting did not do well for some reason. I may have planted them a bit too early. I got fresh seeds and I’m ready to give them another try.
I don’t have much gardening space but I have something growing in it all the time because I live in Alabama. I get more fun out of that dirt than I do if someone gave me an all day pass to Disney World!
Nelly says
How wide is that bed? Looks huge on the pictures. Another question, what hardiness zone is the eastcoast house? I’m loving your “gardecation” hope your husband didn’t kill your other garden
Mavis Butterfield says
I’ll have to find the tape measure and check.
Kristen O'Neill says
I made pretty garden markers for my new garden. I have some river rock in my soil and so I cleaned those up and painted them with the names or sometimes I painted a picture of the plant. Then my daughter (age 2) thought they were beautiful and decided to play with them. I have no clue were my succession plants start and end now. But, life is good.
Carrie says
Are you worried about the strawberries taking over (in the future years)?
Mavis Butterfield says
No. I’ll just clip the runners and transplant the new plants once they get going. Ideally I’d like to have a border of strawberries growing in the front.
Robin says
I read somewhere that there are beneficial microbes in the soil, and that’s why gardening feels so good! ( because it is good for us) whether or not that is true, I am all for it!