Garden 2016

The last time I posted to this blog was in 2010.  Yep, 6 full years ago.  So, clearly I don't really have time to blog, or enough desire, or who knows what else.  So, why start again now?

The primary reason is really to allow my family to check on the status of my garden this year.  Now, I don't actually think anyone cares about it except me.  In fact, I think everyone would be quite happy with a weekly or biweekly status that said things were growing fine.  However, in the rare event that anyone develops a strong desire to see just what IS growing in Lucketts - and to keep me from filling up email boxes in several states with pictures - I thought I would just post pictures here.

A secondary reason, surprisingly, was that when I resurrected this blog, I found that I actually enjoyed looking back on my garden attempts of the past.  So even if no one else looks at it, I suspect I will get enjoyment in October looking back on how the garden progressed this year.

And finally, the main reason - although not the only reason -  my gardening efforts failed in years past was the presence of an extremely all-consuming job.  That job has moved to the back seat in 2016 making me optimistic about the long term prospects of this garden!

So, let's get started.

As of Memorial Day 2016, all the beds had been cleared and planted.  This week, the very beginning of June, everything except the butternut squash has sprouted.

Garden 2016

This is my herb bed.  All of these plants came as seedlings.  I have parsley, cilantro, basil, chives, rosemary, sage, oregano and thyme.  Pretty much all the herbs I usually cook with.

Herb bed

The tomato cages have cucumbers planted on all 4 sides.  I am going to try to grow them up the cages to save garden space.  The other half of the bed has zucchini.  I know, I know, 5 zucchini plants is too many and I will be drowning in zucchini....but I do have my handy dandy spiralizer and last year we ate A LOT of zucchini.  And I can always make and freeze zucchini bread if I have to.

Cukes and Zukes

This bed has 2 cherry tomatoes and one brandwine tomato plant, also seedlings.  There is one jalapeno plant and one poblano plant.  Also, a random, last minute spontaneous purchase - 3 green bean plants.  Not sure if 3 plants will provide enough beans to make it worth it but they seem really happy in this spot!

Tomatoes, peppers and beans

And finally, this bed has spaghetti squash.  All together is has 16 plants (from seed).  That does seem like a lot but they can be stored in the basement for quite a while - in fact, long enough for me to forget that they are there!  And spaghetti squash is one of our favorite, very quick dinners.

Spaghetti squash

There are 2 more packs of seeds coming in the mail, but for now, the garden is off to a good start!!!