First Planting: Part 2

Got my photos today! Much better pictures of our first planting!

Here's the fraternity volunteers who built 2/3rds of our raised-bed garden and helped us do our first planting, with Shelby on the far right:

The stars of the show:



Here's another guy taking pictures.



Later we'll get a copy of his photos of the three residents who worked on the garden: Jean, David, and me. The rest of my photos are all of the garden:

From the bottom:


Off to the right, toward the railyard:


Off to the left, toward the bus stop:


Close-up of part of the herb bed: peppermint, golden sage, peony (really petunia) and marigolds:

My seeds came!

After we got all the plants in, that seemed enough for the day. I decided to plant seeds the next day. I came in at 1:30 all worn out -- to find the borage, calendula, gem marigold, nasturtium, and basil seeds in my mailbox.

Jean had been adamant about not watering 'til 4 PM. So I took a nap, then went out at 4 PM and soaked the whole garden thoroughly, then planted basil, borage, "flashback" calendula, "tangerine gem" marigold, beets, radishes, spinach, and summer squash.

What we have now, arranged in approximate order of when we will be able to pick (the herbs we can begin to pick right now):

• lavender (2) (from nursery)
• rosemary (2) (from nursery)
• sage (1) (from nursery) (where'd the second one go???)
• oregano (1) (from nursery)
• thyme (1) (from nursery) (where'd the second one go???)
• peppermint (1) (from nursery)
• petunias (from nursery) (already in bloom, start picking soon)
• cosmos (1) (from nursery) (already in bloom, start picking soon)
• pansies (some from nursery in now, some from seed going in Tuesday) (already in bloom, start picking soon)
• marigolds (some from nursery, already in bloom; some from seed)
• young rhubarb, donated, we may be able to start picking in a week
• basil (from seed) (begin thinning & picking in 21 days)
• salad greens (from nursery) (begin picking in 21 days, or less)
• spinach (from seed) (we might be able to pick some as soon as 21 days)
• radishes (from seed) (22 days)
• beets (from seed) (will be sprouting in two weeks, baby beets at five weeks, fully mature at 8 weeks)
• tomatoes: early girl (2), sweet 100s (2), sweet red cherry (1), whatsitsname (1) (from nursery) (begin to pick first tomatoes in about 6 weeks)
• summer squash: "scallop sunny delight") (3 hills of 4 seeds each) (50 days)
• zucchini (1 pot of three seedlings) (from nursery) (approx. 50 days)
• cucumber: lemon cucumber (1 pot of two seedlings), burpless (1 pot of two seedlings) (from nursery) (60 days?)
• strawberries (10) (from nursery) (70 days?)
• pimiento peppers (3) (from nursery) (90 days)
• pumpkin (1 pot of two seedlings) (from nursery) (120 days)
• onions, Walla Walla & yellow (starters from nursery)
• calendula (from seed)
• nasturtiums (from seed)
• borage (from seed)
• dahlias (going in Tuesday)
• one sunflower, donated

When I told Shelby that creeping myrtle was poisonous, she was easily convinced to leave it out.

First Planting: Part 1

Okay! We have our first plants in the ground!

I took some Before pictures with my little computer-camera that I downloaded tonight, and some After pictures with a disposable camera that I'll get developed tomorrow. So I'm just going to post half the story tonight, and the rest tomorrow.

Looks tiny from this perspective, eh?


Here's a closer view of the bottom-right. That's one of the two chrysanthemums that Ed planted a week or so ago.

Here's a close-up of its sister on the left end.

And that was all that was there when we started at 11 AM this morning.

Here are the plants ready to go in.

First we worked in 2 cu.ft. each of peat and steer manure, and one little bag of bone meal. My photo of that part isn't very good.

Tomorrow: pretty pictures!