Yes, we're still going!

A lot of plants died in our unusually cold winter, including some perennials. It took me awhile to get the spirit up to start again this year -- but I did!

Early in May, our favorite frat (Sigma Beta Rho) came by and spread the compost I'd made over the winter, and on Mother's Day I began planting anew in the garden. I will post current photos eventually!

Current plants:

• Tomato: One each Sweet Million, Sweet 100, Early Girl, Oregon Spring -- and a dozen volunteers coming up from the compost, being slowly thinned out. :)
• One hill of zucchini -- planted more, along with cucumbers, but rats dug all the rest up!
  
• A forest of red orache (aka mountain spinach) sown from the seeds I saved off the one plant grown last year. I sowed them thickly because I didn't think I'd kept the seeds well -- then most of them sprouted! I'm slowly thinning them.
  
• A forest of catnip from last year.
• The rhubarb from last year.
• One kale from last year, grown big and wild and gone to seed: almost ready to pick off and replant the seeds.
• Volunteers from last year's plants: magenta spreen, borage, red russian kale, something that may be squash.
  
• A couple of french marigolds (had more, dug up by rats).
  
• 5 Easy Wave petunias, won in a contest! Were 6, one killed by rats; one other little hero has been dug up 3 times, replanted and keeps bouncing back!
  
• I planted some beans and guess what dug them up?
  

Herbs surviving from last year:

• The rosemary bush -- and it finally bloomed this spring!
• Most of the lavender -- I thought I'd lost my favorite, the gray lady, but she's coming back.
  
• The garden sage -- and it is blooming! It's not supposed to bloom -- but I love it. :)
• The golden sage.
• Oregano, both green and gold; blending beautifully!
  
• Spearmint --- of course! :D
• One of the three thyme bushes -- blooming nicely.
• Chives.
• Parsley.
  

Flowers surviving:

• My grape hyacinths were blooming again, but some vandal dumped their container. :( I have salvaged the bulbs and will replant this fall.
  
• One of the miniature roses had survived, was beginning to thrive -- then was stolen. :(
• One of the three chrysanthemums is coming back, but hasn't bloomed yet this year.
• Hoochy Mama (the heuchera) has survived! and is "blooming" (the leaves of the heuchera are much more impressive than the blooms).
• The catmint is blooming bountifully!
  

About half of the strawberries survived, and a new half-dozen came up in the veggie bed. The first crop of the year is starting to ripen.

We're still here!

I apologize for the long absence from blogging -- but the garden is going strong!

March 22nd, the boys from Sigma Beta Rho came, helped dig over the whole veggie bed, spread all the compost I had made, add several bags of topsoil & some amendments, lay out a drip-watering system, haul off a LOT of trash, and set in some plants. End result on the left. (Built-up veggie bed held in by cardboard because request for wooden beams has not yet made it through the DESC budget process.)

Laying in the watering system. I haven't used it yet -- every time I begin to think "I'm going to have to water pretty soon" -- it rains. When I do have to water, though, it will go straight to the roots, not on the leaves, and we'll have less risk of downy mildew, I hope.

Of course, if things stay as cool as they've been so far, we may never have to worry about downy mildew.








Setting in the first plants. Lesson #1 of the year: Do harden-off plants you've started indoors, letting them transition to the outdoors slowly. A lot of my first starts didn't make it because I just moved them straight from indoors to outdoors. Ones properly hardened-off are thriving.



That would have been 20 hours of work for one person! And that's only if I was still as young as these guys!




The garden grew slowly over the next month, but as soon as things warmed up just a little it shot up like it had been coiling its springs. Below is a photo taken almost exactly two months later: