Planted

I finally got my garden planted. It's been hanging over my head for a few weeks. Last year was so successful-- and I'm scared it was beginner's luck. I wasn't sure what to plant, the compost/soil doesn't look as good, I don't want to compete with the produce I get from the CSA, etc. Truthfully, my main goal for the garden remains the same as last year-- I just want tomatoes and herbs. Everything else is bonus. I ended up planting everything from seed except the toms, which I haven't picked up yet. And the strawberry plants were bought too. The list is:

Every herb imaginable.
Radishes (just for fun)
Patty pan squash (we only got one bunch in our CSA last year and liked them a lot)
Snap Peas (definitely didn't get enough of these from the CSA)
Carrots (I think it would be fun to pull up carrots)
Jalapenos (I always need them and never have them)
Peppers (We eat a lot of peppers in salads and it would be nice to have them on hand)
Cucumbers (We eat tons of cukes here. They didn't grow last year but they didn't get enough support)
Spring Onions (I'm always buying these so I thought I'd grow them)
Pumpkin (just a few seeds for a Halloween pumpkin)
Strawberries (The one item that tastes completely different when picked fresh)
Tomatoes (of course)

Now that I look over the list, the only thing I really have in there from last year would be the toms, herbs and radishes. I had other varieties of some of these things, like summer squash and peppers. This year I know a little bit more about where the sun shines on my garden and how big some of these plants can get. I think for the most part I didn't crowd things in as much as I could have last year so this year they are probably overcrowded. I made sure to leave ample room for the tomatoes. I also tried to plant all the vine-y things like pumkins and cucumbers at the back of the garden and I'm going to get some sort of trellis for them to climb. In addition to my wish for tomatoes and herbs I can see I will be disappointed if I don't get some strawberries. I have a strawberry pot with a PVC pipe in it the I drilled full of holes. I read about it in some gardening book last year but couldn't find the instructions this year so I did it from memory. I hope it's right...

Talia seemed to have a LOT more interest in the garden this year than last. She helped me plant the seeds and wrote out a bunch of the stakes-- until she got tired. I also planted a lot of flower seeds for her around the house, including sunflowers. We tried them last year but I have to admit I was very neglectful. This year they have a prime position with lots of sun.

There will be many posts about the garden-- I'll keep you all updated!