We are at the end of what has felt like a
month of SIP, and I thought maybe we could all stand to get out of the house for a bit and take a stroll through the garden to see what is giving the weeds a run for their money these days. Shall we?
Beverage optional.
The first thing you might notice is how wild everything looks... there are more volunteers from the rogue seeds of seasons past than there are sprouts intentionally planted (not kidding). Leading the conquest of the garden space is a giant volunteer... turnip maybe? Every year there's at least one, and I always let it flower (and then forget about it and let it go to seed...). These flowers are always irresistible to my pollinator friends, and at a time when everything else is just starting to turn green, who could begrudge a little self-seeding purple? Also going strong are my Siberian iris, another early pop of color rising above the weeds (can you spot the bumblebee butt?).
Also providing a pop of....................... something......... are some slightly less exuberant garden volunteers that can been seen from time to time soaking up the sun...
I have a borage growing where we planted borage two years ago, and in a little corner where Henry planted his random school cabbage we also have two volunteer pumpkins of some kind intermingling with our pepper transplants.
Our green beans are making a strong showing, though I can't remember what kinds we planted where, so that'll be fun... as long as I remembered to only put into the ground the bush beans!
Keeping watch over one of my little bean patches are a few onions that came from somewhere and have all put up those elegant scapes that will turn in to some of my favorite flowers- those puffy globes that look so futuristic and bring all the bees to the yard!
Also doing well but not about to flower is our intentional onion patch- both sweet yellows and whites- joined by a couple nasturtiums making their spring debut.
In the far south bed that usually has the worst weed problem, we've thrown out a bunch of leafy greens and strong annual flowers. Everything has germinated (along with a leftover elephant garlic) and I'm hoping they'll all fill in and shade that bed to the point where the hay grasses won't stand much of a chance.
Getting a late- maybe too late?- start but making us super excited nonetheless are three upside-down tomato cages full of sugar snap peas! I just hope we get a few pods before the heat kills them off.
Looking forward to the heat we also have sweet corn! Already about four inches high. Super excited about these, too!
This little gem, which I think is a cucumber, popped up near our green beans, and I can only hope we can get it to a trellis before it tries to climb it's neighbors...
...one of those neighbors being a potato plant from an unharvested experiment of last year. Not complaining, though!
Our baby 'maters are looking good; all eight spots are filled with eight different varieties, and so far the beefsteak and 'Early Girl' varieties are winning with their first green gems!
In our boarder beds we've gone with some perennial hollyhocks and another attempt at a strawberry bed, and all the space in between filled with sunflower seeds.
And did I mention the cilantro? Because once again everything has cilantro. Every bed. Every path. Even the yard/field/drainage areas outside the garden. So. Much. Cilantro. We actually had to pull armfuls of it to make room for the things we were planting, so we brought a bunch inside and experimented. The result? An awesome... let's call it condiment. Lotsa cilantro + lotsa fresh garlic + lotsa olive oil, a pinch or two of salt, and a few shots of Worcestershire sauce and suddenly we weren't feeling too bad about having cilantro growing everywhere!
We even had enough to make a batch with some chili oil in it for a little kick, and so far we haven't found a single thing it isn't good on. I highly recommend it... and if you're in the area, I even know where you can get enough cilantro for both recipes.
So... has anyone else started growing things during their home internment?
