At the risk of being accused of OCD, I share these diagrams of the new garden beds planted here on the homestead. Fresh on the heels of being called sexy by Ecosalon.com, I guess I felt the need to prove that I’m more gardener than sexy. When the beds are all finished, these diagrams will be complemented with photographs that will join them in the garden notebook for this season. (I’ll talk more about garden notebooks soon.)
Three rows of bush beans and two rows of Clemson Spineless Okra are virtually maintenance free once they are established. They were started from seed on 5/2/11. The Black Beauty Eggplant seedlings as well as the tomato seedlings were started indoors on the homestead in March. The “? Tomato” was a volunteer seedling that started in a leftover bin of peat moss, so it won’t be identifiable until there are some tomatoes on it.
This herb bed is absolutely gorgeous. It is a combination of some of the most aromatic and beautiful herbs around. We’ve already used basil and parsley!
This is one of two tomato beds, this one including tomatillos and wayward bell pepper and dill plants. The Homestead 24 tomatoes as well as the San Marzano heirloom came from our recent trip to the Birmingham Botanical Gardens Spring Plant Sale. The rest were started from my personal seed collection.
The second tomato bed was actually planted first. It includes seven tomato seedlings that were all started from seed here on the homestead. The banana peppers were also started here. The mini bell pepper was a purchase from the Birmingham Botanical Gardens Spring Plant Sale, and it is already producing!
Here’s the rundown of what has been planted since the last update:
- 5 Boston Pickling Cucumbers
- 5 Yellow Straight Neck Summer Squash
- Sunflowers
- 3 Large Red Cherry Heirloom Tomatoes
- 4 tomatillos
- 4 Aunt Ruby’s German Green Heirloom Tomatoes
- 3 Livingston Golden Queen Heirloom Tomatoes
- 3 Black Sea Man Heirloom Tomatoes
- 4 Radiator Charlie’s Mortgage Lifter Heirloom Tomatoes
- 2 Grandpa’s Cock’s Plume Heirloom Tomatoes
- 1 ? Tomato
- 2 Black Beauty Eggplant
- 2 Brussels Sprouts
- 5’ Cowpeas / Purple Hulls
- 5’ Mangetout Oregon Sugar Pod
- 6 Zucchini
- 2 rows of Clemson Spineless Okra
- 12 Romano Bush Beans
