Planted a bunch of stuff before leaving town, but didn't get any gardening done this weekend except for picking up a big bag of vermiculite to make soil mix for the new pepper and hot-crop beds (where there's the most sun).
It's time to start seedlings again, yikes. And do some more outside planting, once I get the beds running– the clay soil even in the prepared beds from last year is pretty fierce, would like to put some beets, carrots, and radishes in the new loose mix beds. I'm reading a book on Edible Asian Landscaping that I got on our Orycon trip to Powell's, and am thinking of dedicating part of one 2 x 3 foot bed to Asian goodies– daikon, michihili, tsat tsoi, and various other stir-fry greens. Am resolved to try long beans on one of the trellises this year– they're so awesome, and Mike keeps saying he'll gladly stir-fry 'em.
For now, got some fragrant heirloom sweet peas soaked and planted along the fence (and covered against overly inquisitive birds), have put in two sets of dahlias for long-term perennial action, ditto another set of siberian iris (blue, this time), and some mixed tulips, plus an I-couldn't-resist 10-pak of 'tiny tot' miniature yellow gladiolas. I'm running out of fence line, and I still am not sure where the peonies are going to live. Heh. Second set of spring peas is planted, post-sprouting, and (I sincerely hope!) far enough away from the sweet peas to avoid pollination mishaps.
Instead of a jungle of tomato plants, the fence line is going to be the domain of flowers from the bottom, and maybe some squash vines trained along the top. I'll put in zinnias for cutting once the bulbs have gone by, and maybe some other tall, self-sufficient stuff like cosmos. Things that reseed themselves are especially bonus. I already have 4-inch tall volunteer zinnias coming up where they don't really belong, and I want to get them transplanted at some point. Copious spare time, etc etc.
Photo is a juvenile kabocha squash from the 2005 garden. I'm really looking forward to seeing if any of my saved seeds from these will germinate. I was only getting about a 40% rate on germination tests right after harvesting them, bah.
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