I have been wondering how I was going to approach this post for a while, because I seem to become less eloquent when I am really excited, so forgive the botched writing where present:
My birthday was last Friday and true to the Daenitz family tradition, my father got me something practical and as always, I love it! This year for my birthday, dad set me up with basically an entire garden and I used the rest of my birthday money to fill the gaps (thanks Grandma, Nana, mom, Glynna, and Janalee for the money!).
To be honest, I never fully appreciated the fact that my birthday was so close to the spring equinox and therefore right at the beginning of the growing season for most plants. I most definitely appreciate it now, as from now on all I want for my birthday are plants and pretty things to put them in!
It has been a very exciting few days because I not only found some excellent plants-tomatoes, peppers, herbs, carrots, onions, and garlic-all heirlooms of course, but I also found some amazing containers to put them in!
Dad and I went antiquing on Saturday and as we were driving home we saw a sign on the side of the road that said "Half Wine Barrels FOR SALE." Naturally we stopped to take a gander, though I didn't have high hopes because typically wine barrels sell for a pretty penny, which a college student never has. I was pleasantly surprised, however, when the gentleman running the trading post offered to sell me an a quarter barrel for cheap as well as two half whisky barrels. Dad and I purchased them and headed off to the home depot to collect some plants as well as some more containers. Then on Monday, I rounded off my little plant and container family by getting a few shallow bowls for my herbs and some heirloom squash.
Please click the below link to view the photos of my new and improved garden with information about each plant and their genus and species where available:
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| Romain Green Lettuce |
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Digitalis purpurea or Foxglove produces spikes of large bell shaped flowers.
It has been used as a healing herb for the heart. |
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Lobelia erinus or 'Crystal Palace' produces a small blue flower.
This flower grows well in shaded areas, that is why I planted it behind
the bench with the foxglove. |
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| My herb garden |
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| Allium schoenosprasumThese are great in sauces. My cat Seamus likes them too! |
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| Ocimum basilicum |
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| Rosmarinus officinalis |
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| Thymus vulgaris |
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| Coriandrum sativum |
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| The raised beds |
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I am trellising my zucchini in order to save space
and keep it under control.
(Squash can be a force to be reckoned with) |
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In this raised bed I am growing white garlic and carrots.
In the two long planter boxes I am growing Italian blue garlic. |
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I am stoked about this tomato called the "German Queen."
It is an heirloom tomato and if you can see in the picture
on it's tag, it is supposed to grow bigger than a baseball! |
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The usual, red beefsteak tomato, great for sandwiches.
Or if you are a Daenitz, just sprinkling salt over it and eating
it like an apple. |
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| Jalapeno for the hispanic in Bobby. |
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| Yellow Bell Pepper, for color in my salsa. |
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| Red Bell Pepper, for Bobby's omelets. |
As usual, a great post. I will see if I can fill in a small gap. Heather would have done this but was hard at work when I did it. Every gardener needs soil, a very important ingredient for any garden. For students on a shoe string budget buying soil can be expensive if it is purchased in bag form. One way to save money is to purchase in bulk form. In heather's case, without much trouble, I was able to find a independent nursery that sold soil at a reasonable price. The nursery even had a trash can I was able to use to transport the soil with. For the number of pots Heather planted with I was probably able to save approximately 20 to 30 dollars. A side benefit is that the soil has spore that will grow into edible mushrooms.
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