My Garden

I was flipping through a notebook we have, and in it Aaron and I had listed several goals that we had when we were first married. I had to laugh at some of them (I'm nowhere close to playing the harp, and we're not going to Greece any time soon), but there were some I had forgotten about that are goals I still want to work on. I had forgotten that even back then I wanted to learn how to garden. I dabbled last year, and I'm thrilled with how my flower bed is taking off this spring. I used xeric plants that I purchase from High Country Garden, and they are doing so well. My favorite is the Jupiter's beard; one of my plants has gotten so huge and its pink flowers are so cheerful. The salvias I planted are also very nice. They were the first ones to bloom, and they attract a ton of bees. This is a very good thing, as we need bees for our garden and it gives the kids an added incentive to stay out of the flower bed. (This was taken almost a month ago, so it's filled out a ton since then.) I planted several extra filler plants, so hopefully the flower bed will be completely filled out by the end of the summer. And since I used xeric plants, they require very little care! I'm having mixed results with my vegetable garden, but I think overall it's doing pretty well. Here's a rundown of the things I've planted: Lettuce: Looking GREAT!!! I can't wait to pick some! Spinach: Birds ate these when they were young, so I lost at least half the crop. But what's left is doing really well. Note to self: cover for next year! Radishes: AMAZING!! Nearly ready to harvest. Carrots: Nada. I did look this up, and apparently you should cover the seeds when you plant them, so maybe the birds got these as well. Green onions: Fine. They don't seem to have grown much lately, though. Broccoli/cauliflower: Okay, I think. I lost two at transplanting, and I have 2 more that look like they might be on their way out. The transplants were quite leggy since I hadn't figured out the whole "grow light" thing, so I thought they might have a hard time. The other half seem to be doing okay, but I'm not getting as much growth as I would have thought by now. Tomatoes: Something (another bird, I think) snapped one of the transplants in half, but the other 3 seem to be doing okay. Since I grew these from seed, I'll be thrilled if that's the only one I have to replace. Right now I've got an Early Girl Hybrid, an 85/100 cherry tomato, and a Brandywine. The Better Boy Hybrid is the one that bit the dust, but those are easy to find around here. Peppers: My peppers I was growing from seed had a hard time of it (it's so difficult to keep them regularly moist!), so only one of those survived, but the 2 I got from Rachael are doing well, so I've got 3 bell pepper plants that seem to be doing just fine. I just planted some poblano seeds, so I'm hoping those will grow well so we can make some chile rellenos! Cilantro: Just transplanted 3 of these this weekend, so hopefully they'll survive. We use TONS of cilantro. Celery: Totally fried. I'm wondering if the spot they were in was just too hot. Raspberries: These are looking really good. They're starting to send out runners, so I'm really looking forward to having a good crop in a year or two. Radishes (foreground) and lettuce I've still got to put in some beans, cucumbers, zucchini, and a few more herbs, but most of those will wait until it warms up even more.