Good things come to those who....

Good things come to those who wait? Who am I fooling, I was planning the garden in October! I still am perturbed by my apparent "behindness" (that is an Ericaism, kind of like a Bushism because I respect the heck outta people make up cool new words) My strategery (my favorite Bushism) was not so successful. I am suspecting that the whole bloody world must buy already well established plants at the local box store and that perhaps my window simply can not compete with mass production. I am truly stymied by this. I have resolved to build a greenhouse on my little 1/10 of an acre.


I can't be too upset though, I am actually getting no less from my spring crops, my peas are super ahead of everyone else's and I have all those happy beans growing. I check my "children" daily. I was very upset to see one of my smaller broccoli plants was a buffet last night for some errant bug. It was a smaller plant, one of the two I set out early. The three others went out about 3 weeks later and are superior in both size and progress. All five were started from seed in my modest little picture window. Alas my issue is with peppers, I know now that starting indoors is not giving them enough of a jump, I barely got knee high plants last year. What is a girl to do? How do the box stores get them so early, it can not be a natural environment and while green house is dandy it still will not be warm enough I presume to germinate those warmth loving seeds. Perhaps I just long for those Alabama bushes of my youth that had peppers on them year round. Perhaps I should just give up and resort to containers.


I waited and I got everything out at the first possible recommended moment. I should get a ribbon, I am always late! I meticulously separated my seed by date to plant and then, for what seemed like 40 days and 40 nights.... it rained.....and it rained.....and it rained...... I am furiously spraying between showers to avoid powdery mildew and all the other scary things that all this rain will bring. But yet the garden grows, and still it rained. I somehow completely missed the month of May it seems and I had lots to plant. I ran outside in the glorious evening break in the week-long rain and I planted, planted,planted...two pepper plants tomatillos, radishes, dragon tongue beans, greens ( to catch the end of the cool season) lettuce, spinach, mustard, kale and leeks, natsurium. I planted pumpkin and beans around the sunflowers and then I got really brave.

I looked longingly at the lasagna compost, I was planning to grow my corn there. But I really had no idea if it was even progressing beyond stuff I methodically toss their. It has been dubbed "the field" the compost bin is "the worm house" these terms are vital in my backyard when sending the male inhabitants to the either area to dump the scraps or the grass or whatever. "take these to the field honey", "put this in the worm house please" . Although they are wholly my creation, I am not fond of tinkering in either because I am no fan of slimy slithering nocturnal things as a mom of boys, really there is just no better way for them to help out.

I really wanted to plant in that bed. So I took out my shiny new pitchfork and tooled around a bit, made 4 mounds and dropped in the center of each mound, 4 corn seeds. Then sound that dragon tongue pole beans, and finally squash. I have no idea if it is verboten to drop seed in cooking compost but I did and it we will see (I did google it for good measure and I have a lot more hope now, as apparently many people do exactly the same thing in their lasagna beds...a bit of a prayer doesn't hurt either).

Today I must get some fill in the potato bags, another item that keeps me restless at night, it just did not seem prudent to be digging in a torrential downpour and those plants are rocking tall so I have to get them mounded or I will not have any potatoes. Oh the worry is unceasing. I did manage to start edging the garden so my husband could mow and there would be less weeding, I plan to pick up some mulch tomorrow and make it look nice. Maybe plant some bush beans on the perimeter or something pretty...but then I would have to edge again so he wouldn't have to weed and this is I suspect how I will wind up with ever square inch of my yard cultivated. Lowes did have single petunia sets....

That brings me to another beef, all of the petunias this year are being sold in large containers for twice as much, where the heck are the flats of 6 individual plants at? Good grief it is a freaking annual. How much money should I pay for plant that is destined to die? This is another great reason for a greenhouse. This phrase.... "doesn't do well from seed." Poppycock I say. It had to grew from something. Marigold, lavender, marjoram, rosemary, mint all little hussies that "don't do well from seed" but yet there at the ole box store are bushy thriving varieties of each. I will conquer this, I will. I feel in my soul the answer is a greenhouse. We will see...we will see.

Next week I will have pea and will most likely be a fixing my first tomato plant to the tomato fence...Joy, that is unless the world ends Saturday in which case I will pray for God to please water my garden.

Happy growing:)