Garden Update

I admit, much of my gardening post fascination is so I can remember when to do this next year.  For excellent tips on garden timing in OK - check out my Mom's blog.

This weekend, we braved the gardening store.  It is my first time since my Dad died and was our special outing place last year.  I remember telling B shortly after Dad died that since Grandpa couldn't go with me anymore B would need to go and be my helper.  He of course agreed and even remembered that he'd been there before when we arrived.  After sucking up the sadness our weekend gardening achievements were:

Planted in the Vegetable Garden:  (in addition to those planted earlier in the week)
Six Strawberry Plants (not the kind my Dad likes, sadly)
Oregano
10 yellow onions (B's choice of plant at the store, even though we'd planted lots of onions already)

2 Cauliflower plants

2 Broccoli plants

Planted in Pots on the porch:

Purple Sage
Thyme (accidental purchase as I forgot I already had it, but it will be fine)
Mint (in its own pot, as Jennie inspires me with her tasty mint drinks)
Geranium (probably too soon, but we couldn't resist the pop of color)
3 Sm. Asparagus ferns
2 Grassy plants (no clue the name, apologies)

We put organic, veggie safe, pre-emergent down in areas where nothing is planted, and around the herbs, strawberries and things in pots.  Yes, it only lasts six weeks, but I'll take a head-start on the weed battle when offered.

We mulched the potted plants, strawberries, herb bed and the areas where tomato, squash and marigolds will go later on as well as around the broccoli and cauliflower plants.  I usually don't get around to mulching until say, July, so this is big bonus points for me.  We will pull some of it back later to plant things and add more to areas where the current seeds germinate when they are ready (I hope).  I also added in a little top soil in areas that had become low lying as the dirt settled.  Not as good as the Blakley farm dirt, but OK for a quick fix.

Also, the kids each got to pick out their very own small, plastic watering can (Dolphin and Duck respectively) so now I have much more watering help which is key as our spigot apparently split in the winter.  Sigh.  Guess what Brent will be working on in his few vacation moments this week?

I also fertilized the front bed and tree in a wild attempt at recreating my Dad's custom fertilizer mix.  I looked at the three bags, thought about my dirt and made an educated guess.  Here's hoping?  (Ps. pay more attention when your parents tell you thinks like this because you just never know.... But I persevere!)  I also attempted to, per his instructions, spray my miniature roses with anti-fugal/mildew stuff.  Once mixed, I of course discovered the sprayer is broken.....apparently channeling my Dad more than I realize as this is absolutely what would have happened had he been involved as he tends to "swirl" in projects.

In any case, we're in great garden shape for now. I plan to plant the chard in a week or two because the variety I have is somehow less cold tolerant than my Mom's projection according to the package (no clue?)

Meanwhile, my little gardeners and I are going to be doing some observing, measuring, and watering.  I'm trying to keep it fun and pass along a bit of our rich garden heritage and love of growing things.

It rained tonight so all that fertilizer and pre-emergent is getting soaked in and hopefully the plants are loving it.
I'm glad to take any questions you may have or direct you to my mom the garden master for more gardening tips as you plan your own little garden adventures!  We'll keep you updated on how our small plot is progressing as the months roll by.

Hope you had a great weekend!

Ps.  I did something silly and took about three steps back with my knee injury -- this seems to be my healing/injury pattern. Annoying, but I'll survive, I'm sure.