I hadn’t paid much attention to our garden over the last 3 months. And it showed. The weeds took over, the remaining herbs went wild over the cooler temperatures, and a single, random cauliflower plant popped up out of no where.
Which is weird because I tried (and failed) to grow cauliflower from seed. 8 months prior. In an entirely different box.
What didn’t fail? Growing grass in the garden boxes. We moved from a house where we couldn’t pay the grass to stay alive to a house that has the most invasive, hard to control, out of control grass ever. It completely overtook the pricey (worthless) weed barrier (“barrier”) and infiltrated all 4 garden boxes. So Jason and I spent half our weekend purposely trying to kill perfectly good alive grass.
It felt very wrong.
But then we busted out the tiller and got the last laugh… for a couple of days, anyway.
What I learned last year is that we’ll never, ever, eat as many salad greens as I like the idea of growing (I still have a ton of arugula pesto left in the freezer from last year). And as awesome as the zucchini explosion was, dealing with vine borers was not. So for now, we’ve decided no greens and no vine borer bait this year.
We’ve put in an entire box of strawberry plants and consolidated all of the herbs and onion-like things into a single box. The other two boxes have a variety of tomatoes, jalapeno, broccoli, green (and purple!) beans, and peas. And maybe we’ll stick a watermelon and cantaloupe vine in there somewhere.
Because throwing out a squirrel buffet without inviting the birds seems a little wrong.
One of the two peach trees have bloomed and little green leaves just started appearing on the plum tree. Most of the dwarf citrus trees are full of fragrant blossoms or clusters of fruit. Overnight, the fig tree unfurled several tiny leaves and the pomegranate has its first ever red flower bud. It’s a miracle that tree survived with me as its owner.
What are you planning to grow this year?
I have envy. We’re still almost 3 months away from planting here. You definitely live some place warmer than Maritime Canada. Sigh…
I can not wait to get started in the garden!! Alas, they are telling us to wait….the warm spell might not last.
I am trying out ground cherries and huckleberries this year. I agree, the arugula seemed like such a good idea, but got out of control way too quickly. Same way with the summer squash. This year I am also trying brussel sprouts and leeks.
I always look forward to your gardening posts in the spring! I started my seedlings last weekend – heirloom tomatoes and peppers. Gave up on bells, and am just doing chiles and poblanos. The citrus on my sun porch is blossoming, but not nearly as heavily as yours! They need some time outside this summer, hungry for that warm sun. Thinking about trying tomatillos this year? Any experience with those?
I got so jealous when I saw that picture of the cauliflower…that you already have growing! I love CO, but the super short growing season is making me sad today. Some times I wish I lived in TX, but then I remember that I have to live somewhere where all the bugs die at least once a year.
Your photos are so pretty! I love the pomegranate bud. We have a tiny garden at the back of our townhouse, but I can’t wait to get started. Our basil never survives the winter, so that will be replanted. In a cruel reversal of that trend, the peppermint and lemon balm will need constant attention to check their rampant, invasive growth and the chocolate sundae roses still need help climbing. I grow strawberries, peppers, and tomatoes on the deck, which is where the Meyer lemons and pomegranate summer, as well, and the goldflame honeysuckle is budding out with spring leaves already. I’d also really love to get some more lavender planted, as I’ve discovered I love to cook with it! 🙂
That’s so weird about that random cauliflower. It sure is pretty though.
I decided not to grow zucchini this year either. I get squash bugs, not vine borers, but it’s just as frustrating, and for something that takes up so much garden space and isn’t much tastier homegrown than storebought, it didn’t seem worth the trouble. I am doing butternut squash though, which I read isn’t as tempting to the bugs as the summer squashes.
I will probably say this to you every year but I’m can’t stand the level of jealousy I have for you for being able to plant your garden so early! That said, everything looks great so far!! We just decided this weekend where we’ll put the garden in the new yard and will start planning what we want to plant in the next couple of weeks. We’re definitely putting in a few blueberry bushes and those need to go in the ground in the next couple of weeks. I can’t wait to get planting!!!
I love it, I feel the exact same, I can’t convince grass to come up anywhere I actually want it to be but in my raised garden beds, glory be there’s all the grass a girl could want! As to overplanting greens, I seem to suffer the same ailment, I think it was a “if I grow it I will eat it all” theory for me, unfortunately I still grew enough to feed the US Army which means too much for my little household…oh well, live and learn (and compost and make pesto). Planted the tomato extravaganza, some eggplant, straight-necked squash, pickling cucumbers, a second artichoke (because the first one has been amazing!), asparagus, onions, garlic, and when the last of the winter veggies (lettuce, brussels sprouts and swiss chard) finally croak I’ll add some zucchini, bell peppers and hot peppers.