2015 Growing Season Has Begun!

This afternoon I spent 2.5 hours in our basement planting seeds.  Four flats in all that include:
-Perfection Drumhead cabbage
-Tendercrisp celery
-Utah 52-70 celery
-Boston Pickling cucumber
-Florence fennel
-Bullnose bell pepper (sweet)
-Orange bell pepper (sweet)
-Georgia Flame pepper (hot)
-Craig's Grande Jalapeno
-Black Beauty eggplant
-Musselburgh leek
-Bianca Di Maggio onion (white)
-Flat of Italy onion (red)
-White Libson onion (scallion)

TOMATOES:
-Stump of the World
-Kim's Civil War Oxheart
-Ferris Wheel
-Abraham Lincoln
-Black Krim
-Nepal
-Big Rainbow
-Mexico Midget
-Green Giant
-Lillian's Yellow Heirloom
-Black Seaman
-Paul Robeson
-Sweetie

Basil
Thyme
Tarragon
Parsley
Rosemary
Marjoram

Once the Earth is warm enough to direct-sow seeds, Wright Gardens will also be growing:
-Cherokee Trail of Tears beans
-Hidatsa Red Indian beans
-Brockton Horticultural beans
-Good Mother Stallard beans
-Empress beans
-Crapaudine beet
-Detroit Red beet
-Golden beet
-Atomic Red carrot
-Kaleidoscope carrot
-Carl's Glass Gems corn
-Country Gentleman corn
-Nero de Toscana kale
-Long Scarlet radish
-Anonas D'Amerique a Chair Verte melon
-Waltham Butternut squash
-New England Sugar Pie pumpkin (pie)

The countdown begins until the first germinated seed sprout is visible.

If you haven't already ordered seeds for your garden, now is a good time to remind you of the Useful Sites & Sources section of this blog.

Go, grow!

Growth in the garden

It's official, seedlings were planted in the garden bed this afternoon!  I am exhausted from moving, lifting, dumping, squatting, standing, squatting, standing, raking, pushing, and pulling soil and mulch around the new tomato bed; but exhilarated that the garden is officially planted.

All of the vegetable and herb seedlings have been added to their respective beds.  Later this weekend the flower seedlings, as well as many packets of flower seeds, will be planted around the yard.  John purchased a wonderful selection of flowers from a local nursery that will be planted in pots, too.

Several direct-sow seeds will be sown later this weekend as well.  Carrot, bean, corn, lettuce, radish, and beet, to name a few.  I love this time of year!

The front flower beds are lush and vibrant.  The late spring bloomers (poppies, iris, and peonies) are growing like gangbusters.  In fact, a single iris bloomed today.  By this time next week, the front yard should be a riot of color.  We can hardly wait!

The red and black raspberry bushes are full of leaves and teeny tiny developing flower heads.  The strawberry bed is dotted heavily with cheery white flowers.  We are eager for berry overload!

"Revolution is based on land.  Land is the basis of all independence."

~Malcolm X, November 10, 1963

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All of the flowers of all the tomorrows are in the seeds of today.

~Indian Proverb

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"In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt."

~Margaret Atwood

Spring and Seeds

Magic is surely happening in our basement presently.  The mystical combination of seed, soil, water and light have been brought together to create the seedlings that will make up this years garden.

The following seeds have been planted:

Poblano pepper
Pasilla pepper
Serrano pepper
Jalapeno pepper
Georgia Flame pepper
Fire Chief Petunia (x3)
Great Quaking Grass (x3)
Cardinal Climber (x3)
Basil (x2)
Dill (x2)
Cumin (x2)
Thyme
Marjoram
Tarragon
Helichrysum (x2)
Lunaria (x5)
Ranunculus
White Poppy
Heirloom Poppy
Cherry Glow Poppy
Sunlite Poppy
Celery (x3)
Cucumber
Tomatillo (x2)
Flat of Italy onion (x3)
Australian Brown onion (x3)
Bianca di Maggio onion (x3)
Bullnose bell pepper (x4)
Black Icicle tomato (x3)

Plenty of direct-sow seed varieties remain and will be put in the ground in the coming weeks.  Melons, squash, corn, beans, carrots, beets, radish, leeks, and a mix of flowers.  Some of the flowers include hollyhock, portulaca, bee's friend, globe amaranth, borage, zinnia, cosmos, blue flax, and penstemon.

It's nearly time to begin preparing the garden beds and I couldn't be more thrilled about this fact.  Evidence of life springs forth from the flower beds all over the yard; crocus blooms can't be too far behind.

"Gardening is the purest of human pleasures."  

Francis Bacon

"One of the healthiest ways to gamble is with a spade and a packet of seeds." 

Dan Bennett

"How dare you treat your soil like dirt!"

Joel Salatin

Garden Planning Info - Part Deux

Now is the time to begin setting up grow lights, getting seeds planted, and then watching the magic happen.  With that said, it's worth mentioning the Garden Planning Info post again, originally posted in November 2012.

The Garden Planning Info post includes a list of open-pollinated, heirloom, and non-GMO seed and plant resources, as well as flower and garden tool resources.  A link to the Safe Seed Resource List is included also.  Check out the list, man!

Chet: watching it snow

Raising the bed

Three weeks after 8 yards of top soil was delivered, the raised bed is finally full of soil!  In the mix is a generous helping of peat moss, mushroom compost and compost from our own backyard bin.

The tomatoes are a little stressed being in full sun for the first time. 

Viola!

The last wheelbarrow of soil was added this past Sunday.  It felt so good to finally be transplanting seedlings in the garden!  To date, the garden is home to tomato plants (1 Ponderosa, 3 Black from Tula, 1 Green Zebra, 1 Sweet 100 and 2 Celebrity), a row of purple carrot seeds, a poblano pepper plant, 1 Georgia Flame pepper plant, and a yellow squash plant.  We plan to add much more to the garden this weekend including Detroit Red beets, string beans, bell peppers, cucumbers, butternut squash, leeks and, well, whatever else strikes our fancy.

The garlic is looking good and should be ready to harvest by this time next month.

In the herb garden we have sage, oregano, tarragon, dill, basil and chives. This coming weekend we will add rosemary, parsley, marjoram, thyme and chervil.  Also growing in the herb garden is a patch of red bergamot flowers.  Only a couple flowered last year but this year the stems are loaded with flower heads.  When they bloom, hopefully the hummingbirds will return!

Chet caught in the act of grooming his belly.

More to come as the blooming continues!

L&J

Strong seedlings

A small forest of various seedlings nearly ready to transplant.

Full sun

A nifty tip in Crockett's Victory Garden suggests planting garden rows that run N/S.  The logic here is that all of the plants will receive the benefit of full sun.  Before I ventured outside Sunday afternoon to consider the location and size of the garden, I armed myself with a compass. 

First, I established due south and due north and marked the locations with a stake.  The blue string in the image marks the N/S direction.  As of right now, the overall garden size is 15' deep by 24' wide.  Between each bed will be a path that is 36" wide, making the individual beds 5' x 7'.  The benefit of four individual beds is that they can be accessed from all four sides more easily than one large bed, especially in John's case.   Hmm, now I'm wondering if the beds themselves shouldn't be set up in a N/S direction as well?  Long angled beds ( \ \ \ \ \ ) instead of four rectangular beds ( = = ).  Hmmm.

It felt so nice to be in the yard contemplating where to establish the garden as well as other flower beds.  No snow, just grass under foot, the warm bright sun, and the scent of the warming Earth.  Before we know it, we'll be slicing into our first homegrown tomato and eating it with a few leaves of freshly picked basil.

The garlic continues to grow rapidly and there are several seeds that have sprouted in the seed flats!  So far, all six hollyhock seeds have sprouted, Brussels sprouts, and broccoli. 

Now, the biggest task that remains is to determine how much soil to have delivered and what to use as the border for the raised garden beds.  Fun, fun, fun!