Middlemamma's 2nd try: 2011 Garden

I am taking on a lot this summer for my garden. This will be my second year and I am so excited I can barely stand it!

I started some sacrificial seeds in December to see if my seed set up is going to work when it's time for me to start seeds in Feb and March.

I started some peppers and tomatoes, as well as some lavender, basil and basil. I have about 4 lavender seedlings lagging behind...but they still have time, I only planted them a couple weeks ago and Lavender seems to take a while to pop up.





I will have 8 SFG's total. Four 4X4'a and two 3X3's. My potatoes will be in big buckets like last year, corn in rows not SFG. My pumpkin patch and Hops won't be in SFG either.

I am growing them for the first time ever and not completely sure they won't fail. We have a huge family tradition of Pumpkin Carving at Halloween. We have a big party everyone brings their pumpkins and we make a huge day of it. This year, my dream is, that we will all go out to the Pumpkin patch and pick our own.

I will have 5 or 6 huge tractor tires around the SFG's and the backyard filled with flowers for pollinator attractant. I will have a wall of sunflowers around the SFG, I get plenty of sun so shading won't be an issue.


Here is a list of what I plan to grow this year. I don't quite yet have my layout worked out.
Artichoke
Basil
Borage
Brussel Sprouts
Carrots
Celeriac
Chives
Garlic Chives
Corn
Cucumbers (4 kinds)
Fennel
Hops
Kohlrabi
Leeks
Lettuce/Spinach
Garlic
Green Onion
Potato Onion
Walla Walla Onions
Bell Pepper
Hot Pepper
Marigolds
Mini Belle Peppers
Nasturtiums
Pole Beans (3 kinds)
Potatoes
Pumpkin
Radish (5 kinds)
Runner Beans (2 kinds) on a trellis
Snap Peas/Snow Peas
Sunflower
Tomatoes (8 kinds)
Turnip
Watermelon

On top of getting all this done I have a vermi-compost bin (Wiggler Hilton) in the works as well an irrigation system.

I hope to keep y'all posted here.

Wow, that sounds pretty exciting! I would say a better title would be Middlemamma's 2nd Success: 2011 Garden

I am so glad you are planning to take it easy and relax this spring and summer

Your enthusiasm is absolutely amazing. Please don't make us wait too long to hear about your adventures.

Can't wait to see how it unfolds.

And I thought I was ambitious. Holy cow. I'll be watching. But, if I can suggest a more fitting title to your thread......Help Middlemamma Find Her Marbles.

But, seriously, I wish you all the best.

Looks like a very nice Buffet.

I know you can do it!

Furbalsmom wrote:I am so glad you are planning to take it easy and relax this spring and summer

This is taking it easy and relaxing for me LOL!!! I can't wait! I can't wait to feel the sun on my back and face, I can't wait to smell the tomato plants when I breeze through, I can't wait to smell the blooming lavender, I can't wait to take in what will calm my soul.

BackyardBirdGardner wrote: But, if I can suggest a more fitting title to your thread......Help Middlemamma Find Her Marbles.

You are probably RIGHT!!! Especially since I am in the middle of cookie sales for Girl Scouts and a million other things....but the garden helps me center, breathe, calm, deal with everything life is throwing at me. It is my only FOR ME thing. The rest of my life is for the family, for the household, for the kiddies, for the hubby, for god-knows-who....this is the only thing that I have that is M*I*N*E, MINE!

I have to give credit where credit is due though, my husband does all my manual labor for me. He builds my boxes, he tilled my garden area, he yanked out the nasty trees that were in the way...he did so much of the harder parts for me. The worst I did was mix my Mels Mix. And I enjoyed the mixing....I went the long route when I did it and I just let it grow me, longer summer nights in the yard mixing and mixing. CAN'T WAIT!

BackyardBirdGardner wrote: if I can suggest a more fitting title to your thread......Help Middlemamma Find Her Marbles.

But, seriously, I wish you all the best.

If you don't find your marbles, don't worry about it........I have a whole bag full I am not using. You are welcome to them. I seem to be getting along fine without them.

This sounds wonderful. I am so excited and happy for you. Gardening is just such therapy. It brings me so much joy and I am so happy to see how much joy it brings you too.

Gwynn

I'll play Yoda's advocate here and say, "There is no try, only do or do not." And you are doing it. Quite well, too, apparently. Way to go, lady.

Can't wait to see the photos.

As for the marbles....I only have two. Once in awhile they knock together in my head and I get an idea. I wish I could share, but they are likely the only two I have.

And, everyone definitely needs at least one thing they can call theirs. If yours is your garden....do it big. If it requires a bit more "me" time....so be it.

Not to be sexist, but I'll never understand you women. You guys always put everyone else first. My wife does it, too. I just can't comprehend. I don't consider myself to be selfish.....but, I am not on the same planet as my wife, or women apparently, when it comes to taking the back seat and putting myself last.

What are the eight varieties of tomatoes and where did you get them from?

BackyardBirdGardner wrote:
Not to be sexist, but I'll never understand you women. You guys always put everyone else first. My wife does it, too. I just can't comprehend. I don't consider myself to be selfish.....but, I am not on the same planet as my wife, or women apparently, when it comes to taking the back seat and putting myself last.

It's built in, it's how we multi task, put up with sick children, sick husbands, both, and keep somewhat sane. It's not only our nature, it's what makes us incomplete, for we are not truly complete until we have someone who loves us who says, "Okay, it's time for YOU", only then are we truly complete. Does that help make it clear, or did I make it clear as mud???

Middlemamma-
Your plan looks a lot like mine! I have 3 4x8 beds, a 4x4 for asparagus, and a 4x6 for strawberries. I also have a list as long as my arm of what I would like to grow. And I was just on Burpee and added another $40 of seeds to my wish list!!

Good luck, I can't wait to see how your garden is growing!

The varieties I have chosen are basically all different things I just wanted to try. I got some from seed exchanging with other forum members, (thank you:)) I got some from www.totallytomato.com and others from Baker Creek Seed co.

I originally was going to grow 8. But since this post, it has expanded to about 16:

Green Grape Tomato
Red Star
Striped Cavern
Dixie's Sweet Heirloom
Green Zebra
Aunt Ruby's German Green
Emerald Apple
Black Krim :
Super Sweet 100
Cherry Zebra (red)
Red Tumbling Tom
Manitoba
Glacier
Siberian
New Yorker

The last 4 are claimed to be early toms that grow well in the short season that I have here in Northern Idaho.

Thank you everyone! I will post an update as soon as I start seeds....it's not quite time for me yet....

Jen

Clear as mud, Val. But, you did give me one heckuva idea with demanding people give mamma her "me" time. After all, she got interrupted 3 times while in the shower yesterday alone. She now gets up at 530am (an hour and a half early) just to get that "me" time where she knows she won't get messed with.

Jennie, keep going. You need a hothouse of some kind to get you started even earlier....claim that ME time!

I so understand that one, when mine were little, I could not take a potty break with out someone hollering under the door "Are you in there mommy".... Literally, they would stick their little mouths under the door and holler. Hubby finally got the hint that he needed to come to my rescue when they started interrupting "our time", I just told him "Ya know, this is how we got those things knocking at our door".... When he realized it "spoiled the mood" he put a stop to people taking too much of my time, including him. Once or twice a year we do "get a room" here in town too, just to get away, we are anxiously awaiting the day they all leave home so we can go the the refrigerator dressed how ever we want to.

I can appreciate them leaving, too. But, I'm afraid as soon as they are gone, I will miss all the noise and confusion. And, I am very much looking forward to my 60's and beyond, but sure as you know where don't want to rush anything, either.

The middle part of life is really getting weird. I feel so indecisive sometimes. I can't force myself backwards OR forwards to all the good stuff......but, I remember years ago like yesterday, but know the future is coming quickly, too. Really strange.

I liken it to before being married. There were 3 stages of relationships, and no matter which you were in, you wanted to be in the other two. Single....just wanted something. Dating....wanted it to either end, so you could be single again, or get serious, so you weren't wasting your time. In a serious relationship.....so often I pined for being left the heck alone or in the infatuation stages.

Got married, though, and all that ended. Now, I live vicariously through those complaining about the "stage" they are in....lol.

BBG...I can so TOTALLY relate to that. It IS weird...I keep reminding myself to forget about the "where" and focus on the journey. Really good advice I feel down deep inside just so hard to really follow at your core. I'm 33 and I keep wondering...."Am I a grown up yet?" LOL....high school JUST was NOT that long ago man! I get that "stuck" feeling often.

With my kiddos, I have a hard time imagining them gone...I don't pine for an empty nest. Maybe that time will come someday in the future....right now I wish we were in the position to have one more. And while I wane away waxing for that....I get interrupted 3 X by the two I have and I startle out of my newborn babe daydream and think...WHAT IN THE WORLD AM I THINKING???? We don't have any diapers right now, they can buckle themselves in the car, everyone is potty trained even the dog! They can tell me what is wrong when they don't feel good....why in the world do i want to go back and do all that again! And the answer is simple...I just do. LOL

It is nice when our husbands make us make time for ourselves....it helps us justify taking it. I know for me I just flat out feel guilty taking it for myself and if Joe makes me it relieves me of some of that.

Valerie! You crack me up! I remember years ago, I was a teen....and I over heard a mother tell someone the only time she gets to herself was when she was in the bathroom. And I remember thinking to myself...REALLY?!?! I follow my mom to the bathroom all the time! LMAO I get the little fingers and mouths under the door too! I just think of how fast their 6 and 10 years have went already and I just think...I am gonna blink and they are gonna be gone.

The cure for empty nest is simple G&G Gardening & Grandkids. All those little plants can be your babies, and I do now have 2 grandsons, one we get to see every other weekend and guess what his favorite thing to do while here is, yep, garden with grandma!!! All my marbles are buried out there in my garden, it's the only place I'm sane, oh that and when I'm making Gum Paste Flowers to put on a cake, which I need to get back to, I've got Wild Roses, Daffodils, and Calla Lilies to paint and dust.

Oh! I just signed up for a Wilton Cake decorating class, it starts next month, it's just the beginner course. I am so excited. I have wanted to do it for YEARS....I am really excited. Hobby Lobby was having a special and the class was only $20, and it is on Monday nights for the month of march so I can actually go. Monday is the only night of the week that we don't have Girl/Boy Scouts or sports.

I can't even FATHOM Grand kids....they go home eh? LOL


Jen

Congratulations on signing up for a cake decorating class. Cake dercorating can be such good fun. I tried it some years ago, and ended up doing even wedding cakes. This weekend, my grandson has ordered a Spiderman cake. We'll see what comes out. You will so enjoy the class. Think ahead, make a carrot cake (using home grown carrots of course) in a rectangular pan; cut the rectangle diagonally; square off, then round off the wide tops of the triangles, add filling to one triangle, top with the other, frost the resulting carrot-shapped cake with orange
tinted cream cheese frosting; using a bit of chocolate frosting in a decorating bag with size 1 or 2 round opening, to make marks to look like "wrinkles" in a real carrot, serve with ice cream. To make stems at the top of the carrot cake, you can take bits of uncooked spaghetti and, with green frosting in your decorating bag, and a size 3 or 4 tip, insert the spaghetti into the tip, and pressing gently on the bag as you withdraw the spaghetti, coat the spaghetti with colored frosting. Dry the frosted spaghetti by sticking each of them in a marshmellow until dried, then gather several together and push them into the top, wide end of the cake to imitate a carrot with the stems cut prior to serving. Enjoy, Nonna

Dang, Jen, that is one heck of a seed list!!! So excited for you! (Did you get my envelope yet?)

Thanks Nonna!!! That is a great idea! I want to make these after I do my first "spring" plantings in celebration of Spring's arrival!

Megan wrote:Dang, Jen, that is one heck of a seed list!!! So excited for you! (Did you get my envelope yet?)

No....what are you sending me? Now I am excited.

You asked for a couple things a while ago.