2011 Garden

Every year, we say we want to have a garden, and every year, we decide we just don't have the time or ability.  Well!  2011 is going to be different!  It will have to be because I just spent a bundle on seed orders!

This year, Shiloh will be 2, and is already walking and running up a storm, so she can be outside with me, and not have to be carried.  (Wearing a heavy child is a real deterrent to pulling weeds.)  I think I've got the goat thing sufficiently down pat that I can try to add something new this year.  (I pray they won't decide to throw any new curve balls at me anytime soon!)  The older kiddos can help, and will have part of the garden to tend themselves--a homeschool project, if you will.

While my mom has gardened much of her life, this will be the first garden that David and I take the reins for.  We have much work ahead and much to learn.  Before the land can be tilled up and planted, we have some structural preparations--specifically, fencing out the garden area to keep dogs, chickens, the occasional goat, deer, rabbits, and raccoons out of the garden.  We plan on building a pig barn on the North side of the fenced garden, so that pigs can till and fertilize it in the off season.  That probably won't get built to start, though...  I have to confess that while I like eating pork, I'm not so thrilled about the idea of raising pigs.  I'd actually rather put the chickens to this task, and keep all their poop off my driveway (and everywhere else--such indiscriminate poopers, chickens are.)  However, they don't bulldoze the ground the way that a pig will, so eventually I will be a pig farmer.  I'm in no rush.  If pigs would also lay eggs, this little mental dilemma I'm having would be so much easier.  Too bad dinosaurs are extinct.  There was probably a good bulldozing, egg laying dinosaur...

Anyhow, in addition to that, we plan on terracing the woefully un-landscaped area around our house--the part between the sidewalk and the house.  Not just terracing, but also placing a low fence at the sidewalk so as to keep all the above mentioned critters out of the space.  In that area, I hope to plant all the perennial herbs on our seed list.  Lattice blocking off the underside of our deck will be a trellis for the Hardy Kiwi.  Can you tell, there will be many photos to come?

So, much to be done!  In addition to the structural work, I need to do a lot of research on how to grow these plants so I don't kill them all.  I hope to make a notebook with a page for each plant, and notes on how well I adhered to the growing guidelines and how well the plant produced. I may as well share some of my research here, too!

So, here's the list of seeds we ordered and from where.  I think Seed Saver's Exchange had all the varieties we ordered, but Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds had better prices on many of them. 

From Seed Savers Exchange:

Empress bush bean
Blue Jade corn
Japanese Climbing cucumber
Crisp Mint lettuce
Rossa di Trento lettuce
Boule d'Or melon
Delice de Table melon
Petite Gris melon
Candlelight pepper
Chervena Chuska pepper
Purple de Milpa tomatillo
Amish Paste tomato
Black Krim tomato
Rosso Sicilian tomato
Orangeglo watermelon
Genovese Basil
Purple Dark Opal Basil
Thai Basil
Chives
Garlic Chives
cilantro
Hyssop
English Lavender
Lemon Balm
Lemon Mint
Greek Oregano
Sage
Sweet Marjoram
Thyme
Wormwood
Johnny Jump Ups

Backordered:

Amish Pie Squash
Spearmint
La Ratte potatoes

From Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds:

Purple Top White Globe Turnips (cover crop)
Precoce D'Argenteuil Asparagus
Hardy Kiwi
Italian Pepperoncini
Melrose Pepper
Patisson Golden Marbre Scallop squash
Calabrese broccoli
Premium late flat Dutch cabbage
Parisienne carrot (good in rocky, heavy soils!)
ground cherry
Russian Red kale
Bleu of Solaise leek
Forellenschluss lettuce
Merveille des Quatre Saisons lettuce
Mascara lettuce
Charentais melon
Yellow of Parma onion
Tomatillo verde
Black Beauty zucchini
Thelma Sanders
Clemson Spineless okra