This years garden (2014)

Another lovely day here in MD and another day to spend tending to my garden. I am so excited about this years garden. I plan on growing so much more food. Not sure if I will be around this summer to tend to/enjoy it all, but I do have to start my garden in case I am. I love the idea that for very little cost I can provide so much food for myself, family and even friends. I do not have a big backyard at my dads house in the suburbs of Baltimore, but we are using every inch of it to our advantage to grow things. I am on a mission to prove that the idea of a farm is not the stereotypical idea we often think of, I am creating an urban/suburban farm on less than an acre.

We have a small garden plot which will contain: potatoes, Big Boy and Mortgage Lifter tomatoes, rainbow carrots, Bloomsdale spinach, leaf lettuce, radishes, pumpkins, oregano, Genovese basil and strawberries. Mostly organic/heirloom seeds.

Then I am using the old wooden swing sets rope ladder as a trellis and using the space between the rope ladder and the tower to create a small garden plot with which to grow luffa gourds. Yes luffa sponges, yes they come from a plant. I will post a picture later once the plants start to sprout and use the ladder trellis.

I also plan to grow sweet potatoes and lavender, but I am not sure where those will go yet, since I will not have space in the garden plot, but trust me I will find a place (with my goal in mind), even if they have to be container plants.

Then there are the perennials. The black raspberries, grapes and blueberries are leafing out. The Damson plums, apples and sweet cherries are all in flower. This year I hope to find an eco-friendly spray solution for the apples so that they wont become all gnarly and wormy. I do not get it! I know of plenty of abandoned orchards that are never sprayed and I always go picking in them, they have wonderful apples, but our own apple tree when not sprayed the apples are always crap. Well, I guess because I have always found my share of free apples, I never bothered with our own tree, but this year I plan on doing something about that. I want to see good apples on our own apple tree. It always gets lots of flowers and lots of crummy apples, but now I want to see good apples!

I have also planted lots of flowers. Marigolds, zinnias, lavender as I mentioned, Helenium and Gaillardias, Cleome, Susans, Milkweeds, maybe others that will surprise me as they were mixed in with the Helenium and Gaillardia seed. These are great additions to the garden, not only because they are beautiful, but because they attract pollinators who will then also pollinate the food crops.

I just went to the Friends of the National Arboretum plant sale, too and I got lemon balm, apple mint, sage, chamomile and wild ginger.

Then there is not only what I have on my property, but the season for foraging for wild edibles is also upon us, so I will probably find blackberries, wineberries and others in the public parks I frequent. I am so excited! Spring is my favorite season weather wise, but summer is the promise of lots of fresh locally grown/foraged food and farmers markets!

Pictures to come later on Facebook.