No time for sewing or painting right now; it’s gardening season! I didn’t go as big as last year with the crazy schedules and big yields, instead trying to adapt my well-performers and self-sowers into a larger portion of the 2024 garden. Seeds were started indoors in late February as opposed to last season’s January start. This allowed me to do less potting-up. A few of the bi-annual shiners included celery, swiss chard, and kale, all of which over-wintered beautifully for an early and easy spring crop. I even had a lettuce survive the mild winter. My rosemary was a different story.
Self-sowing wonders German chamomile and carrot gave me an entire bed of mostly freebies. Unfortunate that most of the carrots bolted in the weird weather. The chamomile has been abundant and time-consuming to harvest and dry, but I’ve made a point to finish last year’s tea and consume more this year because it’s good for me. Dill was another happy self-sown surprise. I tried to save dill seeds from last year, but they failed to germinate where I put them. Good thing I had a lot of surprise dill in other places!
This year I played more with inter-planting and garden aesthetics. Since my main vegetable beds are in the front yard, I want them to look lush, neat, and decorative. I played with planting in diagonals instead of all rows parallel to the bed which gives a denser look from a distance. Not that density is an issue this time of year, but in the early spring when things haven’t filled in, it’s nice to employ this illusion without sacrificing valuable growing space.
We’ve had excessive rain this year, and while it’s nice not having to water, several plants have suffered. The lettuce was all late, the garlic all fell over and witch-broomed, and the pests are rampant now that it’s hot in zone 6b. Self-sowing, perennials, and bi-annuals also work against crop-rotation, so I’m not sure if that’s a factor with the pests. The gardening forums would suggest that everyone is having an issue with ear-wigs and beetles.
Despite these challenges everything is tasting amazing. I still have to buy some produce at the store, but our nightly salads are much more exciting and delicious for the addition of organic fresh-picked greens. The herbs are this year’s big winners so far; the perennial thyme, sage, lovage, and lavender have exploded and our evening meals are thus packed with flavor! I’m currently harvesting fist-fulls of peas a day, heaps of herbs, and soon it will be time for tomatoes!
