The last couple days since the sun came back, the garden has been going bonkers. Did I tell you about the fantastic Asiatic Lilies my sister got me for my birthday last week? They're just gorgeous and they've been popping open like firecrackers since the day I put them out there. As of this morning, all but two are open; I'm hoping more buds will grow and they'll keep going longer into the summer. I need to see if there's, like, lily food I need to get for them or something.
In that first picture, too, you can see the garden-gift I got myself: a planter with sunflowers, two bush-type cukes and one zuke, and (still unsprouted so far), green onions along the front. They came up in about a day and a half--even the seeds are all we need to grow right now. I planted the sunflowers because they're supposed to attract labybugs, which, with roses, I thought would be nice to have, since I've already found a few aphids on them.
And look at these nasturtiums! There's more competition in that little pot, so there's smaller leaves--but so many more of them! And look at all the flowers! You can't really see in that picture, but there's literally fifteen more buds waiting to pop open, and they last for ages. That first one went on for over a week! I hope the bees are doing their job; I'll leave the faded buds there and see if seeds grow in, and then I'll plant them next time, or in the fall, and get even more!
The rose is still trying to open, a little more each day, and it looks like it's going to be pink instead of red, but what a gorgeous pink it is so far!
I can hardly wait for the veggies. If the cukes grow, I'll be making pickles (if there are lots of them) or salads (if there are only a few). And I only planted one zuke because I know how prolific they can be, and I didn't want a whole fall of eating only variations on zucchini. I don't know how all those things will do in that one little planter together, but we'll see!
Here's what my GardenGate reminder says I should be planting out in June (and which I should have already started inside and haven't):
- Luffa
- Marrow
- Okra
- Sweet Corn
- Sweet Potato / Kumara
- Tomato
I hear you can eat luffa when it's small, but it's a big-ol' vine and I just don't have the space, so that's not happening here or now; I'll add it to the calendar for some other year. I think marrow is an overgrown zucchini, so check there. I don't like okra. I did dig out all my fun corn seeds from my seed stash, and I plan on planting some of them just to see what happens; that's probably next week or the week after, though, because this week's free money is already spent and I'm on a budget. I need to get something to plant them in. I grew sweet potato once sort of by accident; one sprouted in the closet and I decided to keep it. It got HUGE. I am super-curious about the bag-style planting of potatoes and other root veg, so I might try that some other time. And it pains me that I don't have any tomatoes; maybe I'll go by a garden center next week, too, and get a few that are already sprouted.
Goals for this week or so:
- Get the compost going outside
- Find something to plant corn in and get planting
- Maybe plant some bush beans
How's your garden going?
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