Planting Has Begun!

When I'm digging and planting, I'm in my element.  Mark did a fine job tilling the garden earlier this month, but after a few showers a crust had developed (along with some young weeds).  I'm using the small tiller to reestablish soft soil for rows.

To say I have an aggressive plan for the garden this year would be an understatement.  If all goes as planned, I will have 3 varieties of yellow squash (Lioness, Fortune & Cube of Butter), 2 varieties of peppers (Big Red & Joe's Long Cayenne), 2 varieties of eggplant (Fairy Tale & Orient Express), 4 varieties of cucumbers (Tasty Jade, Bush Pickle, Arkansas Little Leaf & Rocky), 10 varieties of tomatoes (Mortgage Lifter, Martian Giant, Cherokee Purple, Brandywine, Super Sioux, San Marzano, Principe Borghese, Yellow Pear, Maglia Rosa, & Sweet Pea Currant), and at least 3 varieties of beans (Bountiful, Gita & Lazy Wife Greasy Bean).  Of course, there are other things I will start & plant later in the summer for fall/winter crops.  I'll reveal those later.  When I look through the seed catalogs, many things catch my eye.  I'll never know if I like a variety or not unless I try it...right?

Yes, your Honor, I have lost my mind.  Well, maybe not completely...yet...  The mission, should I choose to accept it and weather permitting, is to sell any excess we may have at market plus give some away.  My Dad always said your garden will do better if you give some away.  Makes sense to me, because I watched him do just that and his garden always prospered.  I hope he would be proud of my agricultural accomplishments.  I know I'm pretty proud, but not so much that it will keep me from being Down To Earth.

Companion Planting

While I was at the Master Gardener's Expo, several people asked about companion planting.  As promised, I am posting some information on that subject.  This is by no means a complete list, but it should be extensive enough to get you going.

Companion Planting Guide
Basil	•          May repel flies, asparagus beetle, mosquitoes & thrips •          Beneficial with tomatoes, squash, strawberries, grapes & peppers •          Avoid planting with rue or sage
Bee Balm	•          Beneficial with tomatoes •          Attracts beneficial insects & bees
Catnip	•          May repel flea beetles, Japanese beetles, aphids, ants, weevils & squash bugs •          May repel rodents
Chamomile	•          Beneficial with cucumbers & onions •          Increases essential oil in peppermint •          Attracts hover flies & wasps
Chervil	•          Beneficial with broccoli, lettuce & radishes •          May repel aphids, slugs •          Incompatible with beans & peas
Chive	•          May repel tomato pests, aphids •          Beneficial with carrots, grapes, roses & tomatoes •          Helps prevent apple scab
Cilantro	•          Attracts beneficial insects
Clover	•          Nitrogen fixer •          Attracts beneficial insects, particularly predators of the wooly aphid
Dandelion	•          Emits ethylene gas that is beneficial to fruit trees
Dill	•          Attracts beneficial insects •          Incompatible with carrots, caraway & tomatoes •          Beneficial with cabbage, lettuce & onions •          May repel aphids, squash bugs •          Can attract the tomato horn worm
Eucalyptus	•          May repel ants, cabbage looper, & Colorado potato beetle
Fennel	•          May repel aphids (I have not found this to be so) •          Attracts beneficial insects •          Incompatible with dill, potatoes
Lavender	•          May repel fleas, moths & whitefly
Lemon Balm	•          May repel many bugs
Lovage	•          Beneficial with most plants •          Attracts ground beetles
Marjoram	•          Beneficial with vegetables & herbs
Mints	•          Attracts beneficial insects, particularly predatory wasps & hover flies •          Use cuttings to mulch beets •          May repel rodents, ants, cabbage moth, aphids, fleas, flea beetles •          Beneficial with cabbage & tomatoes
Oregano	•          Beneficial with grapes, cabbage, squash & hot peppers •          May repel cucumber beetles & cabbage butterflies
Parsley	•          Beneficial with tomatoes, roses, asparagus, carrot, hot peppers, chive & onion •          Attracts beneficial insects, particularly hover flies & parasitic wasps •          May repel asparagus beetles •          Incompatible with mints
Rosemary	•          Beneficial with hot peppers, carrots, beans, cabbage & sage •          May repel carrot flies, cabbage moths & bean beetles
Sage	•          May repel white cabbage butterflies, beetles, flea beetles, carrot flies & cabbage moths •          Incompatible with cucumbers •          Beneficial with cabbage, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower & rosemary
Tarragon	•          Beneficial with most vegetables •          May repel a variety of pests
Thyme	•          Beneficial with eggplant, potatoes & tomatoes •          May repel cabbage worms, whitefly & cabbage looper

We Survived the Whirlwind!

What a week!  It was stressful & exhausting, but we survived our cluster of events.  I could not have accomplished any of it without the love & support of my dear husband Mark, plus help from Taylor & her mom, Cindy.  The encouragement of loving friends was also a big, big help.

Thursday, 4/10 we attended the Grand Opening of the Lookout Farmer's Market.  Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures there, but will next time.  Everyone was very welcoming and excited about their new market.
Friday was a firestorm of activity, getting organized and loading up for 3 venues on Saturday and 2 on Sunday.

On Saturday, Taylor manned the tent at St. Alban's Farmer's Market.  Mark had his maiden solo market voyage at the Hamilton County Master Gardener's Expo and I manned (so to speak) the tent at the Crabtree Farms Spring Plant Sale.

The weather was beautiful, but a bit breezy and the Crabtree staff was supportive, as always.  The farm is such a nice setting; it is an oasis in the middle of an urban landscape.  The only thing I dislike about the event is that, as a vendor, I'm never able to browse through the plants THEY have to offer!  Mark took over there on Sunday and had a rough time with some gusty wind.  He was certainly a trooper.  I think he has made it halfway through his market apprenticeship training without being scared off & is still willing to do it again! 

The Master Gardener's Expo was better than ever and it appeared they had even more vendors than 2013.  There were a wide variety of vendors, including nurseries, landscape companies, garden clubs, agricultural supplies, yard art/birdhouses, garden

tools, nature artists & more!
We had a great spot for the booth and a lot of help whenever we needed it.  On Sunday afternoon I gave a 45 minute talk on incorporating herbs into the home landscape.  There were a lot of good questions and I even helped with some veggie garden issues.  It must have been well-received because I received an excellent rating on the participant evaluations.  That makes a Garden Girl feel good!  Many thanks to those who stopped by any of the locations to support the business.  We appreciate your patronage!

Needless to say, we were both exhausted by the time it was all over and spent today taking it easy and getting back Down to Earth!

I Must Have Lost My Mind

More than once this week I've wondered, have I completely lost my mind?  Never mind that I'm running behind on almost everything.  I have four events this week.  Oh, and never mind that three of the four happen on the same two days.  Have I completely lost my mind?

This Thursday, 4/10, from 3 p.m. till 7 p.m. I will be at the grand opening of the Lookout Farmer's Market atop historic Lookout Mountain.  Saturday & Sunday I will be at both the Crabtree Farms Spring Plant Sale & the Hamilton County Master Gardener's Master Your Garden Expo.  I will also be represented on Saturday morning at the St. Alban's Farmer's Market.  Yep, I'm beginning to rethink my position on cloning.  Luckily, I will be able to pull this off with the help of my dear husband and some very good friends.  I will personally be at the Crabtree Farms location on Saturday & the Expo on Sunday.  On Sunday, I will be giving a talk from 1:30 - 2:30 p.m. on incorporating herbs into your landscape.

So if you're out and about this weekend, there are ample opportunities to check out my plants, teas, seasonings & Garden Girl T-Shirts.
I'm sure that by Sunday night there will be some really tired people wanting to get back Down To Earth!

Almost Garden Time!

While we've had some rain, it hasn't been the deluge we experienced last Spring.  We were able to get the garden tilled in between showers without turning it into a mud bog.
There's something about the smell of freshly tilled soil that does my soul good.  So now I'm chomping at the bit, ready to mark rows, plant seeds/seedlings and wait for the fruits of my labor.

I can already envision cages leaning under the weight of rosy tomatoes on healthy branches.  There will be towers of pole beans creating green, leafy columns.  Ah, and let's not forget okra stalks resembling a nuclear holocaust after the marauding deer eat all the leaves...  I can hear my Dad saying 'deer need to eat, too.'

There is something therapeutic about digging in the dirt, planting seedlings that you've watched germinate and reaping the rewards of your labor.  Everyone who eats a vegetable should have to spend one day working in a garden.  People need to understand what it takes to get the food to their plate.
Just maybe that would keep them Down To Earth.

Catching Up...

"The best laid plans..."  Do you sometimes wonder why we bother making plans at all?
After the Fall of 2013 and Winter/Spring of 2014, I had to ask myself that question.  Beset with a couple of health issues, then losing power in the greenhouses during our last snowstorm, I found myself woefully behind on many things.  But while I might have been down, I was definitely not out - at least not yet!

So with the determination and perseverance my Father taught me, plus the faith in God that sustains me, I moved and continue to move forward.  I managed to get more cuttings done and  more seeds started.  Thanks to heat mats and blessings I have been potting seedlings for the past month.  Here's proof that I wasn't slacking.  There were seed trays lined up for 30 feet down one side of the greenhouse.

 
These pictures are from mid-March.  Things are coming along nicely, with a few exceptions.  This seems to be one of those years when all the difficult seeds germinate and the run-of-the-mill seeds decide to be challenging.  This is the first season I have started with no dill or curled parsley because the seeds just sat there...and sat there, while the wormwood, milkweed, pleurisy root and other persnickety seeds popped through the soil like they were on steroids!  Go figure...  Those are the joys and frustrations of growing useful weeds.  Through the sanity and some insanity, it keeps us Down To Earth.
Note:  April 5th I will be at the St. Alban's Market with teas, seasoning, bath brews & salts, note cards & Garden Girl T-shirts.
More to come!