Plant Garden. Check!

240 square feet of garden, half of it berries.

We got the garden planted today. I decided to do it all at once this year. I am watering handicapped. I enjoy digging the dirt and planting, but then I get distracted with life and forget to water. This works fine later in the season when watering is less needed or, sometimes around here, not needed at all. I figure by planting it all at once, I will only need to be watering viligant for a short, but very intense time. This means I will either get garden satisfaction sooner, or my garden will die all at once in one spectacular wilt.



Elsie was very cooperative. She ,thankfully, felt like sticking close. I gave her some water in her very own watering can to play with. She loved it, and playing with the empty flats and picking all the flowers. (That'll just make them bloom more, right?)



The kids each are in charge of part of the garden. It was nice spending one on one time with each one as we planted their own little plot. At one point, DH was teaching Marvin how to remove a lawnmower blade after hitting a metal post. At the same time, Emily and I were discussing faith, how seeds grow, why the sky is blue, and the three divisions of the federal government, all while planting beets. It is for such moments that I live.

If you're curious, and even if your not, here's the list:

vegetables
sparkler radishes (Marvin)
Sweet Treat Hybrid Carrots (Marvin)
Detroit Dark Red Beet (Emily)
Ruby Queen Beet (Emily)
Derby Bush Bean (Maddy)
Jung's Tricolor Blend Bean (Maddy)
California Wonder Bell Pepper
Jalepeno M Pepper
Jung's Kaleidoscope Mix Lettuce
Evergreen Bunching Onion
Burpee Pickler Cucumber
Sweet Burpless Hybrid Cucumber
Roma Tomato
Million Cherry Tomato
Better Boy Tomato
Jelly Bean Hybrid Tomato
Early Perfection Pea (planted earlier)to be followed by Golden Acre Cabbage (Emily)
Bloomsdale Longstanding Spinach (planted earlier)

Annuals for front of house
Lemon drop marigold
Petite Yellow marigold
Scarlet Starlet marigold
Dwarf Cherry Rose Nasturtium
Bonfire Salvia
Vermillion Terrace Vinca
Victoria Blue Salvia

Annuals for perrenial beds
Blue Moon Lobelia
Hot Pink Snapdragon

Annual vines for porch railing
Heavenly Blue Morning Glory
Scarlet O'Hara Morning Glory
Giant White Moonflower

Herbs
Purple sage
Hot and Spicy Oregano
Logee's Blue Rosemary
Italian Large Leaf Sweet Basil
Mammoth Dill

Maddy also helps with the raspberries and Marvin is in charge of the strawberries. The vegetable focus this year is on pickling. Other than the cucumbers, though, we are staying away from the cucurbits (squash and melon family). We were devastated by verticulum wilt carrying cucumber and squash beetles last year, so we are pulling back and regrouping.

I also repotted 3 houseplants and finished planting the containers. Final spring garden tasks: Finish pruning the forsythia bush and thin the raspberries. Anyone need some raspberry starts? For now, I'm taking my sunburned neck to bed to dream of blt's and berry pie.

Yes, this bush. Large enough for a small house into which the girl's have happily moved into this spring.