Plans

I realized that I never really explained this year's garden plan. Of course, that old military saying,"no plan survives contact with the enemy" applies here. (You might reasonably ask who the enemy might be? Let's see--we have cucumber wilt, rabbits, birds, not enough rain, too much rain, weeds...)

Last year, my successful efforts to grow lettuce and radishes were overshadowed by the CSA. So I decided to abandon those crops, and stick to a few things that interested me, were requested by my SO, or were likely to be usable in bulk. Thus I now have:

1. One big project is lots of tomato plants, including early girl, a paste tomato called "agro hybrid," cherry tomatoes, and one surprise (if it works, I'll post a picture). The total is 12 plants. I'm looking for volume here, since I never seem to grow tomatoes in the quantities some people manage. I figure I can always make sauce and freeze it.

2. I have great hope for cucumbers, because I am determined to defeat cucumber wilt this year. I finally figured out my problem a couple of years ago (so that's why the cucumbers died...). Last year I tried the floating row cover solution. You cover the plants in the spring (when the beetles are active) then uncover them once danger of infection is past. Didn't work. Either the beetles got in anyway, or I uncovered the plants too early. So this year I got county fair seeds, since that variety is supposed to be resistant to cucumber wilt. That's really the reason I wanted to start plants from seed in the first place.

3. I haven't had much success with Zucchini here in Rockville, but I'm hoping this year is different. (I'm the only gardener that doesn't get a disgustingly huge amount of summer squash, it seems). It may be the same problem as the cucumbers.

4. We liked the few onions we got from the CSA last year, so I planted a bunch this year. Since I grow garlic, this should not be too difficult. But I might have planted too many.

5. I try to put sunflowers around the border of the garden every year. I can't plant the seeds directly, however---something eats them as soon as they come up, but ignores them if they have true leaves. So I have to start them in pots.

6. Cooking with fresh chile peppers was a revelation a few years ago. Unfortunately, hot pepper plants available tend to be too hot or not exactly what I want. So I bought some seeds and have hopes for a few (mildly) hot pepper plants, which will provide more than enough peppers.

7. I also have a corner of the garden for herbs, including oregano, sage, chives (which all look good), dill (finally came up in great amounts, and I will freeze some this year), and basil (not yet planted).

8. There is nothing like watermelon in the late summer right from the garden. I hope to have two plants. (But the seeds I bought don't seem to have sprouted, so I guess I'll head to the garden store.)

And of course, the blueberries and raspberries. They've done pretty well in the past few years.

That's the plan. We'll see how much of it has survived by the fall.