Long time, no garden

Well, since its been like ten months since I've posted about gardening, I thought I would let you know what has been going on. Life happened for one! lol
We unexpectedly moved for various reasons back in June of 2010, and all of my stuff stayed at our old place, much to my dismay. Nothing like traveling 30 minutes just to garden!
What did you grow in your garden this year?

Anyhoo, I can completely recommend growing the Yellow Pear tomatoes. They are small, but delicious and very prolific! I gave away several pints of fresh ones and at the end of the season I canned ten 1/2 pints, and that's not including all the ones we ate!


My rosemary, several different kinds, was the most enjoyable to grow, for the smell and appearance, plus it tastes wonderful on fish and pork.


I tried sunflowers again, too, and wow! did they ever grow. I have a large bowl full of sunflower seeds from the six heads and they were beautiful! I also found out that once you take all the seeds off of the head, you can break it apart and glue it onto wreaths for a very attractive fall decoration.


My eggplants didn't do as well in 2010, but my basil grew like crazy.


The corn was pitiful, but apparently I got my companion planting wrong on that one, so my bell peppers didn't do well either.
My squash was a late producer, and I did end up with a few in like September.


The Blue Lake stringless did pretty well, but I ended up not caring for the taste so I gave those away.

I can also recommend the Lemon Cucumbers, if you want something a little different and want a milder cucumber.

Something accomplished

Remember me showing you the before picture around my black walnut tree? To refresh your memory, here is the pic...


After a wonderful morning in the garden it now looks like this,

and on the other side like this,

I tried to label the plants for you to see what they are, but the font did not come out big enough. Oh well, I will describe instead
The purple bush is called loropetalum and will eventually have to be moved as it can get as tall as 12'. But for at least this year it will provide some structure here. It is a semi-evergreen with fushia colored blooms in early spring and late summer.
I also have four daylillies that should all be the orange kind, usually called tiger lillies.
There is lavender lantana on both sides of the tree and this particular one grows slowly through spring and then bounds through late summer and fall. In the winter cleanup, we have had branches as long as five feet from this thing, and the lavender blooms are gorgeous.
I also have purple ruffles basil and some plant I found growing in our yard. It is small, with compact green leaves and yellow cone shaped flower heads. I have no idea what it is, but it is pretty.
There is also a vine I found to grow against the tree, and will find out what it is later.
A butterfly bush and spiderwort are the last additions to this bed.
Once everything fills out I will post another picture.
And by the way, the bed edging is a composit material that I found marked 75% off at Lowe's one afternoon. I bought two containers of it and it took my one entire afternoon to clear the space for the bed, put down the edging and fill it with dirt.

Square Foot Gardening Finished Product

Woo-hoo! I have at least partially finished something!! Yea!!

Here is what the ground looks like after it has been de-weeded and the black weed blocker fabric put on top. I held it down with rocks since I haven't decided what to cover the unused portions, or walkways, with yet.


This is what the dirt looks like in the box without the grid on it.


This is when we had planted almost all the squares. My oops is showing again! I don't know what happened; if we didn't put the box together square or if I had the strips cut to the wrong size, but after I screwed the first row of strips on, the second row didn't reach from end to end. So, like all true southerners, I improvised. You are supposed to screw or bolt the pieces together where they meet at each intersection, so I suspended the pieces where the screws at these points is what keeps the strips together. I really do think we did the box wrong, because I wasn't able to get all of the squares the same size, which you will notice if you look hard enough.


Here are the things planted in our garden; I had lots of help from my five year old daughter and it will be a great learning experience for both of us.

First I have three Atchison Tomatoes my grandfather gave me, but the internet refuses to believe there are actually tomatoes named that, so I don't know what to call them. I will post pictures of them later as tomatoes start forming on them.
At the base of each tomato plant, we planted seeds of Cracker Jack Marigolds,


Next to the tomatoes is a Ghostbuster Eggplant,


On the opposite corner from the eggplant are three green bell pepper plants in the same square,



We planted 2 lemon cucumber seeds in another square,


Also, we planted 2 Early Yellow Crookneck Squash,


And, we planted 2 Straightneck Early Yellow Squash,


In between the squash and bell pepper, we planted a square full of Common Sweet Basil seeds,


On the other side of the tomatoes, we planted 4 Golden Cross Bantam Hybrid Corn,


Next to that, we planted 4 Ruby Queen Hybrid Corn,


Next to that, we planted 4 Blue Lake Stringless Beans


Its neighbor is 4 Tendergreen Improved Beans,


In our pesky ditch for run off, I took my neighbor/cousin-in-law's advice, and planted Jack O Lantern pumpkins, which I have promised my daughter for two years we would plant.


We also scattered red poppy, morning glory, and zinnia seeds in various other ditches around our property. I will make certain to post pictures of them at a later time if they grow.