Welcome, garden

2012 was a terrible year for my garden. It was like being super excited about being pregnant, giving birth, and then never bothering to water or weed the baby and not even picking the green beans before they turned into giant woody monsters.

This year is going much better. I managed the excitement of the pregnancy by 1) letting myself do some exuberant planning but then scaling it way back and 2) combining planning with action - I started seeds inside! And they did really well! While I certainly am not on track for my original goal of eliminating lawn in the backyard, I have fully carried out my scaled back version of backyard plant-heaven and will soon make it a backyard sit-around-and-grill-heaven (patio!!!).

These are all the things I've put in the ground - either at my house or at my community garden plot - so far this year:

Seeds I started inside

• Sun gold cherry tomato
• Cosmonaut volkov tomato
• Brandywine tomato
• King of the North sweet pepper
• Early jalapeno pepper
• Rosita eggplant
• Echinacea (purple coneflower)
• Thyme
• Gigante d'Italia parsley
• Broccoli

Plants I got for free (from friends, community garden donation)

• Welsh onion
• Shasta daisy
• Fern
• Obedient plant
• Tarragon
• Oregano
• Sorrel
• Hydrangea
• Calendula
• Snap dragon
• More stuff

Plants I bought

Just a black-eyed susan from the Feline Rescue plant sale.

Seeds!

• Golden beet
• Red beet
• Peas
• Bush beans
• Pole beans
• Lettuce mix
• Arugula
• Mizuna
• Spinach
• Kale
• Borage
• Calendula
• Nasturtium
• Carrot
• Shintokiwa cucumber
• Lemon cucumber
• Basil
• Lemon basil
• Zucchini
• Scallions
• Catnip

I'll try to remember to post pictures soon.