June Garden

I realized I haven't given any garden updates lately, and, amazingly there is actually some positive news. My raised bed, while not well organized, is chugging along. The broccoli, beans and ground cherries I started from seed, and the garlic from bulb, but I bought the other plants. Tomatoes from seed were just not working for me. We decided to open up another plot after ripping up a bunch of ugly ground cover. I knew if I waited until I got around to building another bed, there would be snow on the ground, and the soil looked pretty good, so I went the direct planting route. I have zucchini and anaheim chilies in there so far, with some room to spare. I made a zucchini carrot bread last year that was out of this world, and froze well, so I don't mind if I end up swimming in zukes.

I also finally got the herb garden to a productive place, after some false starts. Even some of my basil from seed is beginning to reanimate

The rosemary is really thriving, which is good because I'm dying to make my black pepper and rosemary roasted walnuts again. I had a potted rosemary plant that I think I overpruned a bit making the nuts around the holidays, but it's back to life in the ground and has a new friend in a second plant. Of course my picture cuts the rosemary off, but you can see I actually have living basil, oregano, cilantro and some baby baby dill.

This is by far the most successful gardening attempt of my adult life. I've had some frustrations already and have learned quite a few lessons. Right now, despite my utter zeal this winter, I'm thinking the starting from seed thing is for the birds. I've picked up a bunch of plants from the farmers markets for what I feel has been a reasonable price. I feel good that I'm buying local and I've had considerably more success with the plants as opposed to seed. We'll see what happens next year, I'm sure my impatience will get the best of me and I will play with seeds indoors again. For now, I'm just going to enjoy the progress.