Almost done... again...

[torquill]

I keep moving the goalposts on the winter garden.

I cleared the fourth quarter of it a few days ago, and today I found bricks (the rock pile is almost a quarter bricks, who knew?) to edge it with. Then I made a ledge with pavers to support newly potted plants, like the citronella geraniums that multiplied like hydra from my original slip which outgrew its own pot. They can sit on pavers while they root and wait to be adopted, rather than turning into impromptu residents of the garden as they root in the soil under them.

That seemed like such a good idea that I made another ledge like it for the succulents which are always hanging around (I pulled an armload of pups off of the agaves at Greg's place, and once I get some cheap terra cotta pots at the Dollar Store, they'll go on that ledge too). I'll have to set up a plant sale, either at the local arboretum or in my front yard, so I can unload some of the succulents I'm likely to have in a few years. Like groundcovers and clumping types, as well as more pups from the century plants and (hurrah) tequila agave.

I put down mulch on the last of the walkways, so it looks all neat and clean. Then I stared at the new bed. It's half-full of potted rosemary, which will go off tomorrow morning as a donation to Markham Arboretum's plant sale on the 13th, but once they're gone, I have a whole fifth bed to fill that hadn't been planned for at all.

Hmm.

I wracked my brain to find things I could grow that I haven't already planted -- we don't eat turnips or parsnips, we have poor luck with broccoli, cabbage, or cauliflower, we have very little need for lettuce in winter, and I've planted just about everything else already. Even celery root and salsify.

Finally it hit me: the "Plant a Row for the Hungry" initiative. I can dedicate that bed to the Food Bank. The next question is what to grow, as that determines how I amend it; I'll call them tomorrow to get some advice. I know root veggies are great, as they keep, so I can sow more beets and sweet radishes. After doing a little reading on carrots, I feel somewhat confident we can get carrots that aren't "sweaty" tasting (the trick: let them grow to full maturity, and make sure they get there in cool weather). I'll see whether the Bank wants anything else specific, but those three could fill the bed handily. They're all quick crops too, at least in theory, so I should have some good turnover during the season, without having a flood as they all mature at once. We'll see whether feeding beets really does speed them up that much. If the Bank wants my excess sugar snap peas in the spring, they can have those too. :)

So I can have that bed be productive (read: no weeds) without growing stuff we can't use, and I'll feel good about it too. Win-win!

Now I just have to donate those plants, amend yet another bed, and sow more seeds... and put in the Johnny Jump-Ups I bought... then, perhaps, maybe, I'll be done. Finally.

I have to confess, it looks like gangbusters. I have got to start doing this sort of overhaul for the summer garden.

Comments

[catnip13.livejournal.com]

If you had an extra citronella geranium, I would do my best to give it a good home. I had one, but it was a casualty of an irrigation system failure.

[luna-torquill.livejournal.com]

I have several; I'll set one aside for you.