Kitty's Garden 2011

[mellokitty]

it is officially *time* and kitty is busy playing in the dirt....
this year's veggies (in no particular order):
spinach - vancouver and king of denmark
broccoli - west coast, raab, and natalino (natalino is the weirdest-looking broc i've ever seen, i'm growing it more out of curiosity than anything)
gai lan
beans - soy, long zi, and scarlet runners
peas - snow and snap
asian mustard blend - toy choi, mizuna, pac choi, red komatsuna and red mustard
carrots - tricolour
okra
purslane
tomatoes - haven't chosen yet, usually plum sized varieties
burdock
pumpkin - lumina
squash - winter white and buttercup
red bell peppers
green onions
kale - russian red
strawberries - haven't chosen yet
thai chilis

this year, since i have the space, i'm going to max out on my medicinals and herbs to fatten up the seed collection come fall (other than the stuff i LOVE, i'm only growing a tiny plot of each of these, some of them in pots):
arnica
basil - sweet, genovese, lemon and siam queen
bergamot
chicory
chives
cilantro - west coast and vietnam
dill - dukat, but i also really want long island mammoth
evening primrose
lavendar - english munstead but i want a french variety this year too
milk thistle
motherwort
poppies (ehem!) 2 colours
rosemary
shiso aka perilla - large leaf green and red
stevia
sage - pineapple
lemon balm
lemon verbena
mint - apple and spearmint
thyme - lemon
sorrel

and just for fun:
lilies - oriental double, after eight, daylily, and valley (i know i know not actually a lily... )
sunflowers - gigantaeus, indian blanket and velvet queen
zinnia - starlight rose
campanula isabella
money plant
and some wildflower blends - bee, deer resistant (we shall see...) and pnw blend
i found some passiflora seeds that are supposed to be zone 2-6....
...and a bunch of perennials from last year's container garden, we'll see if they all come back...

this year's wish list (there's a big big plant sale coming up at one of the hoity-toity gardens):
another oriental double lily (or maybe a stargazer)
california lilac

hory clap i just read that back over and it looks like a lot but i'm a strainwhore so i like to grow a little bit of lots of things. that and some of my expanded garden beds are still in the "proposed" state but i'm starting extra stuff in case it actually happens this year (my man does tend to be quite proactive about stuff he says he's gonna do for me).

 

[MsBBB]

"Stevia"

Is this the same plant that the sweetner is made from? How do you use it, I never knew that people grew this in their gardens. You are doing all this planning for your upcoming vegetable garden, what do you do with so many different crops, do you can, dry, and freeze a lot?

 

[Dick Moser]

pictures pictures pictures!!! sounds like a feast for the eyes and all other senses kinda jealous i dont have extra room did/are you going from seeds or prestarts? its been so damn long since i got to have a garden fuck americas economy

 

[mellokitty]

"Stevia"

Is this the same plant that the sweetner is made from? How do you use it, I never knew that people grew this in their gardens. You are doing all this planning for your upcoming vegetable garden, what do you do with so many different crops, do you can, dry, and freeze a lot?

i've been told it's part of the mint family, and while it shows similar growth patterns to mint, the leaves are a different shape than any mint i've ever seen. it grows as an annual here, but mine didn't flower at all last year (i did only have the one...). this year i'm going to try starting a few from seed.
i'm hoping to get the butterfly blend i saw when i bought the bee blend to put a big neon sign up for all the pollenators. is there anything i can get for hummingbirds?

last year was the year of jams and preserves (as i'm sure this year will be too, we're not too too far from some of the richest orchard-land in the country).
this year, i think, is going to also be a year of drying and pickling (my hands are going to hate me come fall). i have one particular girlfriend whose survivalist streak seems to be rearing her head on the same page as mine so we're helping each other with our gardens, taking soapmaking classes, teaching her to knit, learning botany from her (she's a horticulture student) etc. etc. so maybe next off-season we'll work on soaps and tinctures and fun stuff like that.

 

[mellokitty]

pictures pictures pictures!!! sounds like a feast for the eyes and all other senses kinda jealous i dont have extra room did/are you going from seeds or prestarts? its been so damn long since i got to have a garden fuck americas economy

seeds for now, although i'm looking forward to a big plant show next month to get a couple more exotics.
lol, it's just some trays with dirt in them right now, my beds (the existing ones) are kind of embarrassing-looking, actually.

 

[mcpurple]

im subbed. sounds like a great variety of veggies and fruits.

its weird last year their was hardly any garden threads, this year theri is tons.
are you going to be taking pictures of every thing?

 

[mellokitty]

couple things i still want:
-a 'hummingbird' plant of some sort
-something really vivid that flowers into autumn, preferably that smells good but that's not as important

help?

 

[mellokitty]

im subbed. sounds like a great variety of veggies and fruits.

its weird last year their was hardly any garden threads, this year theri is tons.
are you going to be taking pictures of every thing?

wasn't on riu last year, didn't have the space either. just containers. let me see if i can find some pics...

 

[mcpurple]

here is a link for some flowers that humming birds like.
last year i had them around my garden for a few weeks, i dont know what they were their for cuz we had no flowers but they just liked to chill with me i guess.
heres the link -> http://www.hummingbirds.net/attract.html

 

[mellokitty]

a few of the pets: lemon verbena flowers (with an ice plant in the background)
and a couple of shots each of my double lily and daylily

EDIT: can you tell how much pinker the lily is in the morning? that's not just a light effect.

 

[mellokitty]

-purple = chive flower
-that's a bud the double lilies grew out of
-the white lady (aka the aphid battlezone)

 

[mellokitty]

here is a link for some flowers that humming birds like.
last year i had them around my garden for a few weeks, i dont know what they were their for cuz we had no flowers but they just liked to chill with me i guess.
heres the link -> http://www.hummingbirds.net/attract.html

"You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to mcpurple again." *doh!*
sweeet i already have a honeysuckle and i've got bergamot seeds already so i'm set (i keep having to tell myself i have to prioritise space for the useful things before the pretty things)

 

[mcpurple]

dont worry about the rep.
glad the link was useful for you

 

[asdf1]

couple things i still want:
-a 'hummingbird' plant of some sort
-something really vivid that flowers into autumn, preferably that smells good but that's not as important

help?

OOOH OOOH pick me!!!... I know something that is vivid, flowers into autumn, and smells GREAT! Your neighbors may not think so though...

 

[mellokitty]

i have a question about carrots:
all the seed starting info about them says to direct sow them into the garden and then thin them several times so they're about 2 inches apart... is there a reason i shouldn't start them in a deepish container, thin as required, and transplant them into the ground 2 inches apart when i'm/they're ready? (my farmland hubby just looked at my seed trays and commented that he'd never seen anybody 'start' carrots so that got me a bit concerned...)

this is the second year that i'm trying to get the jump on our may 24 planting day; until now i've been "holy crap it's may24 next week"-girl so a lot of this early planting stuff is foreign to me....

 

[Dick Moser]

carrots dont like being transplanted and will really only grow correctly if started in deep dirt. its the roots of the carrot you want to eat and you need one solid root for a carrot. at least that what my lady said and she does a city garden thingy for under privileged people. pretty much you sttart it where its gonna grow or it wont grow a carrot....i guess....hope that helped

 

[mellokitty]

see, that's the part i don't get.... the package i have says "sow 1/4 inch deep and 1/2 inch apart, or broadcast thinly in beds and cover lightly.... Be sure to thin young carrots several times so seedlings are about 2 inches apart and have room to size up."
so if you're expected to thin them that means at least half of them are expected to get transplanted, right? (unless you're supposed to thin them and just chuck the seedlings you thin out? cuz that seems, um, wasteful, in all sorts of ways...).
i started them in one of the bigger pots we have (i think it's a 6gal?) which is just over a foot deep, and it says carrots are a slow germinator (10 to 20 days for shoots)... i'm just trying to buy some time until i can work my beds, which will hopefully be waaaay before the carrot seedlings are clone-sized.... me in my simplicity and ignorance would assume that as long as i don't damage the main tap root i should be golden?
thanks for the tip, i had forgotten what a treasure trove the city garden folk are.

(but i kept half the pack of seeds in case this turns out to be one of those epic failures)

 

[Dick Moser]

kinda the same assumption i came up with, but if you are looking for a higher success rate i would do what the rules say im gonna be honest i dont grow carrots, i like corn beans tomatoes and squash, so if it aint that i dont know i just thought i would ask the old lady for you and pass along what she said. shes at school now or i would have your answer you. i guess i can look it up since i was the one who opened my mouth

edit: you can transplant carrots although it is a delicate process. one of the main problems with this method is twisted roots, but that can be amended with loose soil and a gentle hand. best of luck and you should be fine

 

[mellokitty]

QUESTION: i planted what seeds it says can go outside, outside, in trays and pots, believing the weather forecast. leafy greens and whatnot. needless to say, it's been *pissing* since. are they gonna drown?

 

[mcpurple]

if they are in trays and are not yet popped out of the dirt then i would move them under some shelter just to be safe