Progress

From Gardening

This weekend we picked up some certified organic seeds for corn and beans from the Life Oak Farm Store, herbs from Country Boys and Lichtenfelts, and a few random plants to fill out the raised beds. I still need three more herbs, but couldn't find cilantro anywhere. It is true that it doesn't grow as well in this area because of the heat, but that doesn't mean I won't stubbornly try again this year. For the other two I'm thinking another chives plant since we always use them, and maybe another variety of basil.

What we did plant in the 13/16 squares that have herbs in them - 2 regular basil, 1 peppermint, 1 pineapple mint, 1 dwarf Greek oregano, 1 mother of thyme, 1 rosemary, 1 chives, 1 fennel, 1 flatleaf parsley, 1 garden sage, 1 bouquet dill, and 1 vietnamese coriander. I'm not sure what to use the last one for, but it was pretty and smelled delicious (and of course "coriander" often means cilantro, but it doesn't look anything like regular cilantro!).

Updates on the rest of the garden:

• Raised Bed #1- A lot of what I replanted last weekend has sprouted; radishes, lettuces, cabbages, and carrots continue to grow; the peas are very tall and growing up the stakes, but no sign of peas yet - should I worry?
  
• Raised Bed #2- Corn and beans are now in the ground in the back two rows (that is the north side of the yard, so they won't block the sun of the other plants). We're closer to finding a solution to keeping the birds out of the strawberries, and the marigolds and radishes are happily growing!
  
• Raised Bed #3- I've added cages to a few of the tomato plants as they grow, including a stake in the middle of one that was leaning into another square. I planted two butternut squash plants in direct defiance of the advice in the square foot gardening book, so we'll see how that goes. The cabbages are growing beautiful, and I can't wait to see a head start to form!
  
• Other - I was happy this week to see our grape vine budding because it certainly looked dead. It would be nice if our palmetto tree would do the same thing; we're worried that the Christmas lights didn't heat it enough against the very cold winter (for South Carolina anyway!). I also weeded a hill in the corner and planted two watermelon plants, just to see what they would do. It was either that or a pumpkin!

Our next big project, besides working more on the front yard, is to do some extreme weeding, and putting down stones around the raised beds, on top of sand. That just isn't as fun to me as planting things, but the end result should be quite fulfilling.