Making use of space

This is the south side of our driveway... ...and this is the north side:

This otherwise unused space gives us lots of sunny growing areas. The trellises on the side of our house support snow peas (to eat) and sweetpeas and morning glories (for beauty). There are also tomato plants in those cages. They produced wonderfully last year.

Growing and Warmth

Here's our growing boy (with growing squash plants in the background). Kitties (black and blonde) warming up in the sun...

It was the black kitty's idea to come out here and lay in between the rows.

This also gives an idea of the size of the garden (not big!) Posts showing other growing areas to follow...

Tomato plant count

Here are the tomatoes we planted, and the number of each variety:

Australian Oxheart (3)
Black Cherry (3)
Black Krim (3)
Brandywine Yellow (5)
Cherokee Chocolate (4)
Green Zebra (3)
Kellogg's Breakfast tomato (4)
Principe Borghese (4)
Yellow pear (5)

The only new one is the Black Krim. They all have different uses, which I will chronicle as we harvest them.

A Day of Mothering--plants.

Mother's Day, and I'm busily trying to get plants to produce offspring. We put in the entire garden today, planting:

• Leeks
• Summer squash
• Cucumbers
• popcorn
• sunflowers
• other flowers and herbs
• two avocado pits in pots (since we had guacamole for dinner)

transplanting:

• Fennel
• peppers
• herbs
• tomatoes (34 plants in the ground and in pots)

Also discovered the joy of stewed rhubarb this weekend. SO GOOD.

In comparing notes with other midwesterners, we are lucky to be close to the lake, and west of it. It has a moderating effect on the weather--it is supposed to get to 38 degrees tonight, but it is freezing elesewhere. We've been harvesting kale for two weeks. The Rhubarb is hearty and producing well. The tomatoes we transplanted earlier this week are thriving. Will be interesting to see what this does over the years, if it changes, etc.

At any rate, a good day of gardening.