The Garden Gong Show

Well, I thought we'd give it the old one-two one more time especially since I got such a late start last year planting around the beginning of July. Maybe a part of me was trying to speed up the arrival of Spring but at the first sign of nice weather, I was out there with my manure, potting soil and seeds. I figured that when the seed packet was counseling me to sprout them indoors that none of that really applied to me because my growing season is so short that I needed to just go for it. Of course the weekend AFTER I planted, it snowed and then the temperature lingered below zero for several days so pretty much things were killed. Here we are a month later and 2 seed plantings later and things are finally starting to grow. Sigh.

Round 1 Planting:

• zuchini
• cucumbers
• Cinderella pumpkins (thank you Leah)
• peas
• carrots
• lettuce
• beets
• basil
• thyme
• rosemary
• dill
• mint

then the non edibles:

• monkshood (um Sondi, did I just read that these are poisonous? You really don't like babies do you?)
  
• clematis (pardon me, but did I just read that this was poisonous as well?)
• day lilies
• alaskan fern (I thought given it's name it would like living in our climate here)
  
• cosmos
• black-eyed susans
• sweet peas

This list may make it seem like I have an enormous backyard. But be ye not fooled. It is roughly as big as a giant area rug.

Here's what survived to make it to Round 2:
beets
dill
cosmos
lilies
fern

Yup, that is really it. Everything else died. So I did a replanting. Here's what is still kicking now.
Lettuce
Beets
Carrots
Zuchini
Cucumbers

Then I bought some already grown plants: tomato, rosemary, and basil. Rosemary is supposed to be a come back plant. I'm interested to see what happens during the winter. I love fresh rosemary and it grows all over southern California like a week along the beach. Cool huh? And so fragrant.

I spent a lot of time studying gardening and talking to my smart gardening friends (even if one is trying to poison us). I wouldn't say gardening is difficult persay but dang, there is so much info and stuff to know that it can quickly feel overwhelming. Like did you know that pumpkins, cucumbers and zuchini all like to be planted on a hill? Sure, it makes sense because that way they have like a place to go grow down but come on, that isn't like something you'd come up with on your own. Plus, if you have a bunch of retarded cats in your neighborhood who see a hill and want to dig it, it could put a little damper to the growing process but hey, gardening is all a learning process and as long as some sort of something grows and my kids can see that and participate in it then we'll be good.

Anyway, here are some photos to enjoy of our efforts.

Our Gardener Girls:

Before:

After:

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After:

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After:

And then there is our family gallery. We decided to decorate our backyard. We got one of those wooden pallets and Greg broke it down and we all took turns painting them. It was a fun family project. Enjoy