Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?

We are growing a buttload of vegetables this year. We have a 4' x 12' box in our backyard, called Sharp Garden, and a 25' x 60' plot in the St. James Horticultural Society community gardens, which we call Silver Garden.

We started 100 seedling peat pots April 27, with corn, peppers, tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, watermelon, and pumpkins. Most sprouted successfully, but we probably should have started sooner, with planting lights and/or heating pads. The seedlings are not big enough, and most don't have true leaves yet. I am not sure they will survive the transplant to Silver Garden.

We planted Sharp Garden on May 16, with yellow onions, garlic, purple carrots (the outside is purple, the inside is orange, the taste just like normal carrots), and lettuce. We also planted sage, basil, and thyme. I would like to have separate pots of mint and dill. The woman who lived here before us left a map of her garden beds, as well. There are some chives, some lilies, a whole shwack of peonies, some tulips, and marjorie. We have a rabbit living in our backyard - he eats mostly grass and the tops off some of the bulbs. He's so cute, I don't want to get rid of him. We've covered our vegetable bed with netting to protect it.

Our experience with the horticultural society has been somewhat frustrating, but the real problem has truly been the cold weather. Spring is typically wet here, but there were no days of sunshine in between, to heat the ground, and start working the soil. Normally, people would be done planting by Victoria Day, but they society only finished the plot survey and posted the map that weekend. After weeks of visiting almost daily, we finally knew which little bit of land was ours. Only it's not so little; we had estimated a plot of 12' x 36', I planned a layout, and we bought seeds. Instead, the plot is three times that size - we had to change plans on the fly! We've divided the space into ten smaller 12' x 12' plots, each with it's own cute name :)

A. The Three Sisters Field will have complexes of corn, pumpkin, and peas. The corn provides a trellis for the peas, the pumpkin leaves create a living mulch, and the peas replenish nitrogen and nutrients that the corn strips from the soil.
B. Legumeland has five rows of various beans and peas. Only two varieties, the scarlet runner beans and sugar snap peas will require a trellis. The others are bush-type plants; green bush beans, sugar spring peas, and yellow wax beans.
C. Watermelon Forest has a mix of plants. Our pepper plants will be here, and a row each of broccoli and cauliflower. Apparently the latter two are prone to pests, but I'm ok if they don't work out, because how much broccoli and cauliflower can you actually eat.?The cauli may end up as mixed pickles. Half the forest will be watermelon vines, close to a ditch that crosses the plot. Although we picked a Canadian variety with a shorter season, I'm still not sure it's going to work. Apparently they are kind of princessy plants.
D. The Cucumber Plot (not to be confused with the Pickle Plot) is also mixed. We will be trellising the cucumbers, because apparently it increases yield, and saves room from spreading vines. There will also be tomato plants and lettuce.
E. Squashes and Roots will live south of the ditch. We'll have some yellow zucchini vines, then turnips (which I've never eaten) and beets, and then spaghetti squash vines. At least some of this food will become baby food. Some will be incorporated into experimental recipes found on the internet. Most of will be given away.
F. Rabbit Food is just rows and rows of carrots and lettuce.
F. The Pickle Plot will have trellised pickling cucumbers, a row of radishes, two rows of spinach, and a row of red potato plants that didn't fit in Tuberosity.
H. Koopland is a corner of garden our friends Nathan and Heather will be planting. We figured we had some square footage to spare.
I. Tuberosity is just potatoes; fives rows, about 25 yellow plants, and 30-some red. The seed potatoes we bought started growing while in our basement. We're going to have too many potatoes. Also, we added a row of extra onions that didn't fit in Sharp Garden.

We're going to have a lot of food. The community aspect of the plots is also very fun - our neighbor on Sharp is about five plots away from us at Silver. He has a sandpiper nesting in his garden, which is very cool. Most of the members are seniors, and very sweet and helpful. We met most of our neighbors while planting this weekend - about 3/4 of the plot is seeded. The remaining space will have seedlings and plants added when the weather stabilizes. We had a super productive weekend, and we're very excited about the potential results in a few short months!

-posted by Jo