2008 Garden Plan

Since we expect to move this year, and we live in a rented house, I moved most of my perennials to Mom's yard last fall. I have a few left that I will pot up this year. I will leave behind what was in the yard when we arrived - peonies, lilies, roses. I will only be planting vegetables and a few annual flowers in this yard. Ideally, we will be able to take our containerized plants with us where we go (as yet to be determined). I plan to grow:

In the ground:

Onions, potatoes, and carrots
Peas along the fence
Beans up a trellis

Containerized in buckets, boxes, and bags along the sidewalk:

Spinach and lettuces in raised boxes
Zucchini - only one
Purple, orange, and yellow sweet peppers
Cherry tomatoes - Black Cherry and/or Sungold
Eggplant - just one "Little fingers" or "Hansel"
Might try baby beets in a box

Lots of potted herbs:

Italian parsley
French thyme
Lemon thyme
Basils - Genovese, Pesto Perpetuo, Thai "Queen of Siam"
French Tarragon
Lavender
Dill
Sage
Rosemary
Garlic Chives

Not growing paste tomatoes, broccoli, or cucumbers - they are all easy and cheap to buy locally, and they attract too many kinds of bugs and diseases. The zucchini will only last until early summer before the vine borers and squash bugs get it. I hope that putting it in a bucket will give me better access for bug-picking. Similarly, I hope that raising boxes of lettuce and spinach off the ground on crates will reduce the critter access. I am making slug traps for each box.

I am sure other things will catch my eye at the garden centers. The difficulty will be in resisting the ornamentals. I like my flowers - but I don't want to invest more in a yard I won't be keeping. I will have to work off my flower-gardening desires in Mom's yard. I am starting seeds for a few annuals here: marigolds, zinnia, calendula, etc - from saved seeds. Some coleus from starts, for color. The remaining perennials will also come up - peonies, iris, roses, stella d'oro lilies, and some guaras.

If we do end up staying here longer, I will plant greens, garlic, leeks, and shallots to overwinter. The lemon thyme would have produced all winter with a little protection. I missed the fresh basil, thyme and parsley when it was gone this winter. I dried some, but it wasn't the same.