Hallelujah, She's Planted!!

Has this been a year, or has this been a year? For one, we are nearly in June. Crazy! Five months never went by so quickly! For another, taking on the task of prepping for and filling twenty-two bales of straw was almost daunting! It would have been, had I not been so stinking excited! haha I sincerely intended to plant a mere 14 bales this year, down from last year's 18. Some of those bales were wasted last year, as seeds didn't take. (It was hard for me to stay motivated so close to my dad's death.) It is purely repetition for me say at this point that we ended up with *so* many seedlings that we simply *had* to have the additional eight bales! lol Suffice it to say that this mama loooooves getting straw bales!

This morning we were out in the garden around six thirty (almost on the dot). Giraffe helped out with three bales worth of plants. I tried not to ask for too much help, since it was so early. Koala was a willing worker... almost too willing. That is how it is when they are tiny though, isn't it? haha She wanted to put plants into bales for me, so I had to pull out straw and then very carefully tip the plant out of the plastic cup into her hand. It is a beautiful thing to teach the little ones how to garden! <3 <3 <3 

Above is the somewhat skewed panoramic picture of the yard/garden. Excuse the pool. ;) One does not get through a summer without a pool of some sort, am I right? Call it spring if you want. The temps in the 90's say otherwise! You can see the lettuce camped out to the left of it. haha They are coming along nicely. 

Here is a picture of our pot of potatoes. This is our second attempt. It seems to be successful so far! These are mostly russet, if I remember correctly. We also threw in a red potato I couldn't bear to trash. Truth be told, I don't even know if it is advisable to mix potatoes. It probably isn't! I suppose you can call this an experimental year for us, potato-wise. ;)

Our beets are still tiny, but I have to mention them. They are my absolute favorite seedling at the moment! Why? I am glad you asked! haha These little babies germinate out of their seed looking like wee little flamingos! haha They are tiny, stringy, and a very bright shade of pink! Pictured is one of five little fellas that has leaves. The rest are all naked and hiding in the dirt where I placed them. I'm in love!

These are some of the plants I put in this morning. There were still cabbages, cantaloupe, cucumbers, tomatoes (plenty!), peppers, beets, carrots, parsley, and more squash. :) Let me tell you, we worked fast and hard pulling out straw to make holes, plopping plants into them, and filling them with dirt. When we began it was already 69/70 degrees out and almost 80 degrees when we came back in.

Here are some of my lovely peppers. I initially planned on having two varieties, but thanks to a wonderful weekend trip to the farmer's market I have four! Mine were not growing quickly enough. I now have Big Bertha and Emerald for my greens, Sweet California Wonder (red, yellow, green) and Orange Bell for my colors.

I don't know if you can tell or not, but Koala placed all of our 'fancy' Dollar Tree lawn ornaments into the fronts of the bales this morning. There are now random butterflies, frogs, and birds at odd intervals beautifying our space. It is quite lovely in person, regardless of how how it looks in the pictures. :)

You can probably see one better in this picture of my too-tiny green pepper plants. :) How cute is that little frog? He really adds something to the garden. :) Anyway, I don't suppose I should continue adding pictures. I just wanted to share how sincerely delighted I am in having finished planting my garden for the year! 

To that end, here is a(nother) list of everything that made it into our backyard. I have updated it to reflect the new plants we've added. All told, we planted twenty-two different kinds of tomatoes. Can I say just how *eager* I am to see them thrive and produce fruit!?!?

VEGETABLES

Zucchini 

Romaine Lettuce (green)
Romaine Lettuce (red)

Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce
New Zealand Spinach

Red Acre Cabbage

California Sweet Wonder Pepper (multi-colored bell peppers)

Emerald Green Bell Pepper
Big Bertha (a 7" huge green pepper)
Orange Bell Pepper

Spaghetti Squash

Butternut Squash

Bush Beans

Muncher Cucumber
Tendergreen Cucumber
Waltham Broccoli

Radishes

Detroit Dark Red Beets

Scarlet Nantes Carrots
Danvers Half Long Carrots
Russet Potatoes
Red Potatoes

FRUITS

Hale's Best Jumbo Cantaloupe

Congo Watermelon

Strawberries

FLOWERS

Morning Glories
Lilacs
Red Roses
White Roses

TOMATOES

Sunrise Bumblebee (a red/yellow striped cherry tomato of moderate size)

Sun Sugar (best guess... small yellow/orange cherry)

Small Yellow Pear
Orange plum 

Honey Delight Hybrid (large 2" light yellow globes)

Chocolate Cherry (an acidic cherry almost brown with green)

Red Cherry 

Brandywine Cherry (same flavor, smaller tomato)

Unknown Small Red Paste (best guess... shaped like small jalapeno peppers)

Gold Nugget (best guess... small, orange cherry)

Plumito (Best guess... dark red, shaped like bell pepper)

Black Cherry

Blue Beauty 

Hillbilly Potato Leaf (large red/yellow fruit)

Beefsteak 

Brandywine (pinkish fruit the size of a slice of bread... my favorite flavor)

Big Rainbow (another large red/yellow fruit)

Steakhouse (the largest tomato ever bred... fruit up to 3lbs! We shall see!)

Abe Lincoln (a regular red heirloom)

Yellow Mortgage Lifter 

Serendipity (another yellow/red mix)

Black Early 

Plan Nine from Outer Space (a yellow/red)

So far, we have harvested bush beans, radishes, and lettuce. The rest is still growing. Also, you can add peas to the list of things I still want to plant as soon as I find an available spot for them to grow! haha I am also eyeballing a bunch of dry beans from my collection, and wondering if they would bother to germinate. haha I cannot help it! I have gardening deep in my blood! <3 <3 <3 I look forward to sharing pictures of produce as the year continues to progress. 

Live happily, everyone. We only get one go at this! :) <3 :)