The First Plants

Well, we have plants in our vegetable garden!

First, we planted onions.


It turns out that you buy onion starters by the pound. One pound gave us about three times the amount you see in this picture. We have extras if you need any. These are yellow onions because that's what the local nursery had on hand.

After the onions, I planted strawberries.


I still think strawberry starters look funny. Kind of a big knot with these spindly branches shooting off.

We've tried strawberries before without much luck. I'm praying for more success this time!

After the strawberries, we planted garlic. (By the way, when I say "we" it's figurative. Tim is on hand for any hard manual labor and Levi is available for the best advice a Yorkie can give. I did all of the dirty planting.)


I was surprised that garlic starters are just garlic cloves. Does that mean I could have just used the stuff in my kitchen? (I dunno, but somebody does. If that someone's you, please feel free to comment.)

The last thing we planted today was the potatoes.


Again, these are just potatoes (Yukon Golds) that had eyes sprouting. You cut them into quarters and then plant them in the ground.

I can't think about harvesting potatoes without remembering all of the high school history classes that talked about Ireland and potatoes. Not sure why. Maybe it's an emotional connection? I'll mention that to my therapist.

(I don't really have one. I know you were worried. Or were you relieved? Hmm... Either way.)

Well, that's what we planted. Here's a few more pictures from our day:


Tim strung actual guidelines so I would know where each square foot is and not plant outside the appropriate area. It was his idea, but my type A personality liked the idea. Nice, neat, and organized. Judge us if you wish.


Further proof that I strive for organization. These are the garlic cloves that have been laid out before I plant them. I am normally not this organized, but little pieces of garlic are so easy to keep in rows. My desk at work does not look like this. *sad face*



I really appreciated the hand spade with the depths marked onto the blade. How deep is two inches? Well, it's when the two inch line on the shovel is even with the dirt. Very handy!


This is Levi. He is always ready to inspect our work. He will even lick the dirt to check the soil quality. And roll in the grass to make sure it is nice and soft for us. He is the inside dog that wishes he was an outside dog.



Well, that's it for today. Here in a few weeks I'll be planting tomatoes, jalapenos, green peppers, lettuce, and herbs. In the meantime, I'll post updates about the items I already have going.

Oh, and if there is a frost between now and then I will be posting some questions, so be ready to help!

Thanks for reading!

Sincerely,

The GPN

Planting is like a Blind Date

I have one of those job that gets snow days. *smile* So, I've spent part of my snow day looking at a few gardening websites. Of course, this has only brought more questions. (Do you see yet why I need each and every one of you?)

I requested my first seed catalog, but I could use names for companies you trust and recommend for ordering seeds. I mean, think about it. Who can I trust to provide me with months worth of fresh garden happiness?? One wrong order and I could spend the summer looking at a box of dirt. Dirt!

Also, I am realizing that there is no such thing as "lettuce" or "tomato." I bet dirt isn't just dirt anymore, either.

So, since I don't have much experience with such specific names for plants, I wanted to ask for some recommendations. I feel like I am being set-up on a date, but I'm not sure who I'm going to meet. I'm looking for strawberries, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and bell peppers (the green ones.) What specific varieties would you recommend? For example, I found a "Buttercrunch Lettuce" on a website. Is that the one I should plant?

So, you have two questions: Where should I go for seeds/plants? What varieties should I plant in my garden? Any advice would be appreciated!

Sincerely and warmly,

The GPN

Onions Stink Up the Plans

So, this afternoon I had some time on my hands. (I was procrastinating, actually. Do the details really matter?) With this "extra" time, I decided to Google onions and information about planting them. I stumbled across this link from Texas A&M. It look detailed (maybe more than this novice needed) so I started reading.

Here's what I learned: Onions from seed have to be started in November.

November?

Seriously?

I wanted onions this coming spring/summer. That's already about 5-6 months out. Now I have to wait until November? Do you realize that's now 11 months until I can plant them? That means over a year until I will have homegrown onions.

Do you smell that?

It's the onions that just rained onion juice on my planting parade.

Now, you might be wondering, very legitimately, why I would want onions. Well, onions are one of those things I hate buying from the store. Like bell peppers or tomatoes. They just seem so crazy expensive. That's probably because I never memorize the price of an item, so I'm shocked every time I see it. (I just revealed another issue of mine in this post. If you haven't caught on to them yet, then I won't mention them again. Deal?)

So where does this leave me? Right now, I don't think I will be planting onions this spring.

So I am currently home-grown-onions-less.

However, on the up side it provided me with a question to ask. (Onions and Texas A&M, you two still aren't off the hook for spoiling my planting fun.)

Where do I go to find out when to plant what? I'm considering plants like tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, carrots, lettuce, and strawberries. I'm also considering herbs such as cilantro, basil, rosemary, thyme, and parsley. If you have any advice to offer, please comment below. I am not sure where to turn to find a planting calendar, and one that I can trust.

Your help is needed!

Sincerely,

The GPN