It's garden day!

[nonelvis]

It's a little early to start planting – the frost-free date in my zone isn't until the end of the month – but I'm putting in peas tomorrow morning and figured I might as well go buy some seedlings today, even if I won't put them in for another week or two yet. (I always plant ahead of the frost-free date, since our growing season is short enough as it is, and so far, knock wood, haven't lost any plants yet.)

This year's haul:



I got the usual stuff: tomatoes (black, yellow pear, and Sungold cherry tomatoes, plus some heirloom variety that looked interesting); marigolds to plant among the tomatoes; pickling cucumbers; a Cubanelle pepper; basil (Thai, lemon, and globe); and curly parsley. Also, since the neighbor's giant tree came down last year, I now have more sun in the herb and flower garden, so I'm bringing back rosemary and lemon verbena in the hope that they do better this year than they have before.

But the real stars of the show, the seedlings I couldn't find anywhere last year, are these two little guys:



Those two plants in the center with the vaguely heart-shaped leaves? OKRA, BABY. (Specifically, Clemson Spineless, in case you wanted to know.) If I'm very lucky, it'll be hot and sunny enough this summer that I'll have plenty of pods to fry or pickle.

And finally, the marigolds, just because I think they're pretty:

Comments

[gritsinmisery.livejournal.com]

I need to get some marigolds or coxcomb or rock rose or a combo for the big flowerpot on my patio, which faces SW and is in full sun all day. Younger-Son's graduation party is three weeks from tomorrow, and the smokers in the clan will be out there to indulge in their habit. An empty clay pot is not-so-decorative, and might be used as a ciggie-butt repository.

We had such a mild, cool (for us) summer last year that I think some of the rock roses that were in that pot last year may have reseeded. I'm kinda waiting to see what the wee spike-leaved things coming up are.

I'm also waiting until this latest round of tornados finishes up tomorrow before I put the houseplants on the front porch, b/c a couple of them are hanging baskets and I'll be damned if I lose them to high winds after living w/ the mess from a begonia, a spider plant, and an asparagus fern in my master bathroom all winter.

Also, I've been looking for some basil plants to grow in the kitchen window but all I'm finding right now are in the peat pots to be set, and of course I don't have any "real" pots that size to put them in, and I'm too cheap to spring for a couple. *grumbles*

[nonelvis]

I love marigolds! They're so cheerful, and usually the ones in the vegetable garden last long enough that by the time that garden is pretty much spent, as are the plants in the annual pots up front, the marigolds are still going strong and can replace the dead plants in the annual pots.

Unglazed clay pots are cheap. Just go for it, because there's nothing like fresh basil. (Put some in a gimlet. Trust me.)

[haineux.livejournal.com]

Hint: If you want to get nonelvis to go ballistic, ask her what happens when people plant mint and basil in the actual ground, instead of pots.

[gritsinmisery.livejournal.com]

I know from my mother's house what happens when you put mint in the ground. I presume basil has the same bad habit?

[nonelvis]

The mint and the basil will mate with each other if you're not careful. Really, it happened to me one year.

[gritsinmisery.livejournal.com]

Innnnnnteresting. I guess the leaves are about the same shape; maybe I should go look up the Latin when I get a little more awake.

My mum kept peppermint and spearmint in the same patch. She said the spearmint was harder to grow... maybe it was cross-pollinating w/ the peppermint and the "pepper" genes won. I guess basil genes can hold their own, then.

[syzygy-lj.livejournal.com]

I don't really get a lot of sun on the State of Denial, because we're on the wrong side of the building and there's also a tree right in front of us. So I always have a hard time finding stuff to grow. I tried basil one year, and it died in less than a week.

[nonelvis]

You might be able to get chives and mint to grow. They're both very hardy, and mine don't seem to care whether they get full sun. (Both can grow aggressively, though, so be warned.)

[syzygy-lj.livejournal.com]

I have to plant in pots, because I only have a patio. But I only get sun for a few hours early in the morning. Then it's shade.

I was thinking more flowers, anyway. Any suggestions?

[nonelvis]

There's always columbines, though they self-seed like nobody's business, so expect to be pulling them out of cracks in the patio. Also, they won't bloom all summer long.

I actually don't plant all that many flowers, so you might want to ask lisanh about this elsewhere. But if you have to plant in pots anyway, you might as well just go for whatever shade-tolerant annuals your local nursery carries.

[syzygy-lj.livejournal.com]

I planted columbines last year! They're perennials, right? So maybe I'll get some this year?

[nonelvis]

They're hardy little buggers! They'll almost certainly be back.

[syzygy-lj.livejournal.com]

YAY!