Thursday, September 29, 2016

I'm going long on the kitchen garden

We had a garden this year. A ramshackle, tattered, beautiful, unkempt garden. With a one-year-old, a three-year-old, a puppy, and too many other life projects to count, planting a garden was symbolic. I ordered $128 of seed in less than 15 minutes, a record for me. I usually plan for months. I planted things weeks after their frost tolerances. I weeded maybe three times. I watered about half as much as I should have. A huge percentage of our produce got infested with aphids, and ended up feeding the pigs. And I'm still glad we did it.

Things I swear I'm gonna grow next year. This is a so-I-don't-forget list.

A - because I can't believe how much they cost at market
B - because I can't seem to find a volume discount that makes it reasonable to put anything up
C - because it's harvest season, and I can't find any zucchini. Wtf. People leave that shit on doorsteps in the dark just to get rid of it.

Here's the list.

This year's garden. Don't be fooled by the shovel.
It's just marking some dog poop I haven't cleaned up yet.
  • Every old-fashioned flower
  • A medicine cabinet full of herbs
  • A kitchen full of herbs
  • So much basil 
  • So much mint
  • Zucchini for days
  • Kale
  • Chard
  • Garlic. A whole field of garlic.
  • Eggplant
  • Broccoli
  • Cabbage
  • Every winter squash
  • Turnips
  • Pumpkins
  • Carrots 
  • Fennel
  • Tomatoes by the acre. A whole damn garden for tomato sauce.
  • Beets 
  • Sunflowers. Lots of them.
  • Dill
  • Cucumbers
  • Every kind of bean