We have had the most lovely, wet spring. After too many years of drought, this is such a relief. With all of the time I’m not spending watering, you’d think I would get around to writing more – but I’m afraid Jan and I spend too much time sipping wine on the porch, which just saps my productive energy right out of me. I’m afraid that’s why he brings me the wine; the Protestant work ethic makes him nervous.
Of course, the rain has not been such a blessing for some of my gardening friends. I have two friends gardening on one particular street, and their gardens both flooded. The weeks of standing water has done them no favors.
The first week of May, I planted sweet potatoes, Beauregard. What a great name. Makes me think of mint julips. I also got ahold of some gorgeous purple and white Dutch irises, due to the street construction that’s been going on since July. Of last year. 2008. Guh. Anyway, the city installed a sidewalk in front of a neighbor’s house, right through her tremendous iris garden. We all consoled her for a couple of minutes, then jumped in and swiped the uprooted irises. Next spring you’ll see them blooming all up and down our street. Heh.
sweet potatoes
To make room for the sweet potatoes, I pulled up some underperforming broccoli, broccoli raab, and spinach. All of these did well for me in the fall, but weren’t worth the time and space this spring. Maybe it was the multiple late freezes this year.
We’re currently harvesting:
shelling peas
snow peas (I’m not sure how I ended up with those; I don’t care for them.)
green onions
chives
stevia
strawberries (still mostly going to the mockingbirds, but Ella gets a few here and there)
banana peppers
jalapenos
marjoram
oregano
cilantro (the last of it was a week or two ago; the rest has bolted)
Our neighbors came over with new potatoes from their garden, but I haven’t dug into ours yet. A few potatoes go a long way in our house, so I can wait.
Everything else is going gangbusters. Even my corn looks fantastic. Last year it got bugs then blew over. That was Luscious. So this year I planted Painted Mountain. So far, so good.
Over the coming weeks I’ll be making my last harvest of peas, and pulling the plants to make way for the okra. Of the peas I planted, I would do Alaska and Wando again. I’ll stay away from Little Marvel and Oregon Sugar Pod. I’m not in any hurry to get my okra in, because everyone up and down the street seems to have planted some this year. So we’ll have plenty all season long.
Which reminds me, three of my neighbors (within a few blocks) have planted new gardens this year, including my next door neighbor, Rick. Who knows if having my veggie garden in the front yard has helped inspire anyone other than Rick, but it can’t hurt, right? I’d love to see everyone with at least a little patch of food growing. Maybe it’ll go viral in old McKinney. That would be weird. Good weird.
