This Year's Gardens: Part 1

It is mid-May and I am just now starting the 2023 gardens. Why so late? Oh, the list goes on forever.

We had a late, cold spring, for starters. There were some days of high temperatures here and there, including in February, but there was also frost later into the spring. Not to mention snow. Yes, snow. So weather played a big role.

The schedule overload in this house, especially on the Symphony front, has been intense and immense for weeks. Although I am not Symphony staff, I am married to the Symphony. We had one guest artist staying with us for the season-ending concert, so there were some preparations there on the home front. And in addition to being the Executive Director and the orchestra's timpanist, Warren also was a guest artist this concert, so there was a lot going on. A. Lot. And that doesn't count the incredible Link Up concert for 4th graders this week (three days after the aforementioned season finale) or the other major Symphony matters that have occupied this household for the last many weeks.  

 And while I kept thinking of gardening, my energy levels were depleted and I. Just. Could. Not. Do. It. 

Several weekends ago, I did a very rough weeding of the kitchen garden. It was full of purple dead nettle and hairy bittercress, and I weeded it by hand, in two two-hour blocks of time. A few weekends ago, I did a very, very rough weeding of the Hej garden, removing the dandelions, thistles, and other large strays that I could see. (The Hej garden has been covered in a deep layer of leaves all winter. I am not sure what is lurking underneath.)

This Tuesday, I finally got to a local (the very best local, in my opinion) garden center where I always buy my starter plants. Before going, I looked in my gardening notebook to see what I had written last season about my purchases and their successes. The one thing that popped up repeatedly was "too many tomatoes." I reined myself in greatly on the tomato front. That took tremendous willpower, but I managed. I also gave a few of my plants (one pepper and two tomatoes) to my dad, who smiled and said that he thought he "might" be able to manage those. (Dad will turn 90 this August and he is slowing down.)

My purchases from Miller's Country Gardens, waiting patiently to be planted.  

In previous years,  I have started some seeds inside, usually by late April. As noted above, it is mid-May. Guess what I spent an hour doing this morning?

Zucchini, mostly

Although the weather has been cool, I am not sure we have enough cool days left to plant lettuce and see any results before it gets too hot. I may seed some of the intended lettuce bed and then hold the rest of the seed for late summer. 

It rained steadily for several hours this morning and it is too wet to head into the gardens today. I want to till the kitchen garden and get the basil sowed soon. We need to buy more fencing for the Hej garden before I plant it so we do not have a repeat of last year's Bunny Buffet back there. There is still a lot (A. Lot.) on the Symphony front through July 4, but I think (or else am wildly blind to my own limitations), I can do most of what I want and need to do without relying on Warren. 

The 2023 gardens are off and running! (Or, more realistically, walking at a slow pace, but hoping to pick up speed as time goes on.)