Susie Gardens: Pictures! 4/25/09

This is the bed I mentioned in my last post. I covered it with cardboard and mulch a couple of months ago. It worked pretty well! It was still hard to chop out some of the bigger knots of roots, but most everything seemed dead. I managed to get a sunburn, oops. After such a cloudy morning that threatened to rain, it turned out to be a sunny afternoon. Glorious. I got the sunflower and zinnia seeds in. You can barely see the stupid decorative wire fencing I have to put around it to keep the dogs from stomping all over the future delicate seedlings. I'm going to have to watch diligently for weeds, and keep everything moist for the next several weeks.

Here is the cinder block bed. The front three plants are zucchinis. I'

m using small tomato cages to get them to grow up instead of out. In the back you can see the bamboo tee pee we created to let the cucumbers grow on. Also up instead of mounded.

I have tiny blossoms on each of the zucchini plants!

Frilly Purple Basil and unknown flower seedlings in some of the cinder block holes. Chuk sprinkled a packet of mixed flower seeds in a few of the holes, and for a while forgot where they were. There are 80-something of these little pots. I have currently forgotten where I planted cilantro seeds the other day. I think I know where, but I'm not sure. So all planting in likely areas is halted until I see sprouts. I need to figure out a way to mark which holes I've planted in, because it's clear I can't count on our memories! I'm excited about the crazy flower seed mix. There are 100 different species, so there is no telling what's going to bloom.

Red swiss chard. I sure love the magenta veins against the red flesh. So pretty. I've also got yellow and cream but this is my favorite. All are doing well so far.