Are you eagerly anticipating another gardening post? Maybe, but maybe not. If you're not, if you could just humor me, that would be great. Because I'm sooo excited. It's coming together and I am finally done planting. Believe it or not, I planted it ALL. By myself when little ones were napping, sometimes. Or sometimes with a kid on my back. Or sometimes with a kid who I am trying sooo very hard to make sure he doesn't stomp on my efforts by accident. Or with a kid on my back and one following me. I can't believe I did it. Especially since this garden is much bigger than I intended it to be.
What you see here below is one of three plots. This is the by far the largest where the majority of the food is planted.
This week, I got the stakes up, as you can see.
The tomato cages are all in. 28 Big Boy tomatoes started from seed and I did buy 2 cherry tomatoes from our local farm store.
My husband helped me put up some fenceposts and chickenwire, both of which I found in the barn for the peas. Not fancy, but it I think it is not only functional, but also adds character.
I've been reading about how to tend them to perhaps make a vineyard...just brainstorming and thinking.
And that which I cannot believe I finished is the raspberries. Big hierloom raspberries from my neighbors. They said I could take all I want. I did. I transplanted 67 and made a large hedge on the open edge of our garden.
More things are sprouting and growing in this main garden area.
That which I did not talk about last week are these: From top to bottom/left to right. There's celery at the top. (I rooted the bottom of a couple from the store and it's growing, so I decided to try to see if I could plant them). Swiss chard. Sunflowers. Marigolds at the edge of each row. Carrots. Spinach, which my Adrian has already sampled and said MMM!, and Parsley. All this stuff is from seed. I hope the parsley takes off in particular, as it will be awesome to have tabouleh all summer. I think I planted 12 of them? Hopeful thinking!
We have had a lot of rain in the last week and not much sun. But, from last week, the tomatoes are indeed growing.
I need to do a little thinning of the kale. There's a whole row like this!
The basil is in. Hope to have an awesome crop if he stops running through it.
I also added regular and red potatoes. Oh, and I had one row left and nothing to plant. I was going to leave it blank, but then saw cauliflower at the bulk food store. Bought that. And then I went back in to pay for cabbage and bought that too. Never planted cabbage before, thought I'd give it a whirl.
There is this patch. Which houses blueberries, strawberries, corn, beans and pumpkins. Someday I want it to be exclusively strawberries and blueberries.
Remember how I didn't think the blueberries were going to survive? Well, I'm pleased to say that each one has some new growth. Wahoo!
And the last new garden actually has a funny story. I was set on having a cut flower garden. My husband was at work, kids sleeping. I thought I'd rototill it myself. I have no business rototilling. I can't move the darn thing. So, the ground was wet enough for me to dig this up by hand with the 'soil turning' garden tool I have.
It was actually fun, as I found a ton of worms doing it by hand. All sorts of cut flowers are planted here, not sure what will come.
These flower beds haven't had any attention in years. I need to get to it. There have been some fun surprises.
Out front, for some reason, there's a big chunk of house that only had lily of the valleys. I love them, but wanted to add a little more pop. I transplanted various types of hostas, astilbes, bleeding hearts, a jacob's ladder and something else that I never remember the name for. Looks small now, but once it expands, it should look a little better.
Such as this whole chunk of the field that is thick with daisies. That makes me happy.
And some other perennials are coming up.
Loads of irises, can't wait to see the colors!
Oh my, have you made it through all that? So that's the long winded version of what I've been up to this week in the gardens.
I've talked about her to both of them since they were born. This is the bouquet we picked to celebrate what would have been her birthday (with cake!).
Now, he knows about her.
He asks about her, talks about her.
Tells his sister all about her.
Some of the questions he asks are hard questions. But my heart doesn't feel empty, it feels full.
My heart feels full because even though they haven't met her, he knows about "Grandma Debbie". And sweet girl will know too someday.
And they'll know about who my mother was was because she made me who I am today. They'll know about her through me. And for that, I am thankful.