I finally planted all three of the main pots for the deck. I want to keep the deck mostly herbs, but there are a few veggies and flowers thrown in for color or due to lack of space in the garden.
Leftmost Pot: Mini Yellow Bell Pepper, Gypsy Marigold, Sweet Marjoram
Middle Pot: Purple Sage, Lavendar, Lemon Verbena
Rightmost Pot: Several Large Leaf Basil, Dianthus
Clockwise starting with the largest:
Catmint/Spearmint, Sweatleaf, Chives, Oregano from seed, Sage from seed, Oregano from last year
I had no idea vegetables could grow so quickly! Every time I go outside I am astounded by another growth spurt. The last two weeks I sowed many a seed and transplanted the rest of my indoor grown starts.
MAY 20
Transplanted into garden:
Tomatoes - Still need to decide on staking or caging... maybe some of both.
Peppers - Cubanelle, Hungarian hot wax, Hot Thai, and Mini Yellow bell. One of each into garden, still have a back-up of each inside in 4" pots.
Japanese Eggplant - May have started indoors too late, but planted into corner of the garden anyway, will try growing on trellis. Who knows.
Lemon Cucumber - from winter sown container. None of the babylon sprouted, so I sowed some seeds around the lemon cucumber. They are all probably too close together, so I may cut out a few once they are stronger. Again, will try to train to a trellis.
Pole Beans, Blue Lake - from winter sown and added more seeds as only had three sprouts.
MAY 21
Direct sowed more seeds:
Carrots - Cool purple ones. Garden soil is pretty rocky, so they may be small and deformed. I hope to plant a shorter variety into a container with better soil.
Spinach
Pak Choi
Buttercrunch lettuce
Cabbage
Amaranth - One last ditch attempt at direct sowing these guys. The winter sown and indoor sown that have survived are finally putting out decent sized true leaves. There may still be hope.
The Salad Area - Marigolds just added to hopefully deter pests
Bibb Lettuce
Buttercrunch Lettuce
Pak Choi - Harvested the first batch of leaves this week! Used raw as salad and it was okay, but not great. The leaves were a bit old as the plants were slow to grow indoors and then outside in the cold. I am hoping the next batch will be a little sweeter now that the weather is warming up. I plan on trying lightly steamed or stir fried.
Oregon Spring tomato
The first tomatillo bud!
Lemon Cucumber
Borage Blooming
About a week ago Jared and I took a trip about an hour south to One Green World, a nursery specializing in exotic and rare plants. We went for the kaffir lime tree, the leaves of which are used in our favorite thai soup. The tree is more than two feet tall and already has lime buds! I definitely didn't expect it to fruit this year.
We also came home with a male and female arctic beauty hardy kiwi. The fruit are the size of grapes and fuzz free, but definitely still taste like kiwi. Someone brought a bunch in to work last fall and I ate more than my share... yum. These are great because they live outside in the shade... which we have plenty of. We don't have to worry about bringing them inside in the winter (the kaffir lime tree is a little higher maintenance in that regard).
Rapidly growing veggies
Plants mom kindly dug up to share last fall
The indoor only cats took a tour of the overgrown grass
Once again, I have neglected to keep track of exact dates for transplanting and sowing seeds. When will I learn? However, this month I did take lots of pictures, so here is my best guess at the garden calendar based on the photos and my memory.
May 5
Transplanted winter sown veggies and plants:
Sunflower
Pak Choi
Bush Bean, Burgundy
Bush Bean, Roma II
Bibb Lettuce
Amaranth into pot on deck
Basil into pots on deck
Transplanted indoor sown:
Red sunflower
Oregon spring tomato x 1
Sage into small pots
Oregano into small pot
Transplanted store bought:
Dill
Cilantro
Basil, siam queen and large leaf italian
Marjoram
Rest of swiss chard into pots and replaced few in garden that wilted
Space hybrid spinach
Burgundy bush bean after transplant
Tomatillo hardening off
Potted swiss chard bright lights
The garden bed starting to show some growth
