First Post, What I Planted Today & More

Close up of our little cherry tree

Welcome!

Introduction:

This blog is a gardening journal, so I can keep track of what I'm doing and how things are growing and maybe inspire some other gardeners too.

 I'm hoping to work out some timetables for planting here. The charts say we're zone 7 but some years our temperatures are zone 6. I had been tracking haphazardly in a spreadsheet but it wasn't working for me so hopefully this will be better. 

I love gardening and am a person with significant and multiple disabilities (which I prefer to think of as health challenges). So I don't spend as much time gardening as I would if my health were better, but I do what I can. I almost named this blog "Do What You Can Gardening" but when I searched for timetables on Maryland gardening not much came up and I'm a fan of MIGardening on YouTube so this blog is kind of a tribute to him too. Other YouTube gardeners I like are: Charles Dowding, Roots and Refuge, and Self Sufficient Me. I could do a post with all of their links. If you want to see that, just let me know. I already subscribe to them all. I'm not affiliated with any of them, but I am a fan of all of them.

I don't think I have any current affiliate links so unless I get some new ones, I'm just sharing what brands I used so I remember and can either use them again if they work great, or avoid them in the future if they don't. If I ever start up with affiliate links, I'll let you know.

Today's activities:

Today I planted 20+ strawberry plants. Some temporarily in the big grow bags I plan to use for vegetables when it's warm enough and the rest around the perimeter of the raised bed I've been using for dahlias the past few years (this year I might not grow dahlias but might grow more vegetables instead). The strawberries were supposed to go in some vertical grow bags, which were part of the set I purchased with the plants but my husband vetoed that idea so I had to come up with another idea quickly.

I also planted mini four packs of Swiss Chard and green leaf lettuce (one four pack each) in the vegetable raised bed (I've mostly grown vegetables in since my husband kindly built it for me). The lettuce easily separated into four pieces but the Swiss Chard was prolific and hard to separate. I wil probably thin them in a few days, out once I see which looks strongest. I'll probably cut them for thinning and throw the cut ones in my morning kale-berry shake. 

Lesson Learned:

One year, when I had a little extra space and was in a hurry to get it in the ground, I made the mistake of planting one three-inch pot of mint in my vegetable raised bed. It took over.  And even though we've been taking out mint for years, it persists. I like mint, just not in my production beds. A week or two ago I took out the mint that was sprouting in this bed and replanted it under the holly hedge, where not much likes to grow and I hope it will thrive and spread.

Earlier this spring:

On the first day of spring (March 19th, this year) I planted (inside) whirligig zinnia and (outside) romaine lettuce seeds. The lettuce seeds started sprouting today and were just planted in last year's remaining raised bed soil because at that time, my husband couldn't find any compost for sale (and I am in home isolation because I'm in the high risk pool for complications should I contract the covid-19 virus so I haven't been able to go shopping). The zinnias sprouted in three days (super fast!). I planted them in Espoma seed starting mix. I repurposed a fresh strawberry container for the zinnias. I should take a picture of that because I don't think I've done it before but I thought the lid would make a nice greenhouse affect and it did, based on how quickly the seeds sprouted.

Blueberry plant

Waiting to be planted:

One blueberry bush (I think it's warm enough, the space for it outside just isn't ready yet) which arrived earlier this week.

The zinnia seedlings, which need to stay inside until frost danger has passed.

Strawberry seeds (currently stratifying in the fridge).

My little fig tree. It arrived maybe a couple weeks ago? I transplanted it from it's original ~ two inches wide by four inches deep pot to a grow bag that's about eight by eight inches. It could probably already use a bigger pot but I'm too exhausted to do more today.

Many, many, packets of seeds. Vegetables, herbs and flowers. I ought not buy more seeds until I inventory what I already have. The most recently acquired are inside or setting just outside a glass jar. The ones I harvested from my garden last fall are either in bags or still on their drying trays (laid on top of books on bookcases in our dining room). Older seeds are in envelopes in a box marked "seeds."

Pandemic Influence:

Prior to this covid-19 pandemic, I grew more flowers than anything else. I like growing them for the birds, butterflies, bees, and our own enjoyment. I do also love growing my own food, but that always seemed like so much more work than the flowers so I just did a few things each year... maybe the equivalent of two 4x4 raised beds.

I feel like I should grow food more now, given the shortages that are occurring and the needs that are likely to be greater. I'm not aware of a local (Anne Arundel County, Maryland) charity looking for fresh produce but I'm sure I'll find them when the time comes, should God bless me with an abundant harvest. Even if I just have a little harvest, everything that I grow for my family to eat is more food available for others to buy in the stores.

May God bless you and all you do and grow!

PS: I just started this blog on a whim today when I sat down to add to my spreadsheet and realized it wasn't working for me. So I shared what I remembered. If you want details on anything I didn't give details for, I'll look for it. Just let me know. Although the blog was started as a whim, I think it's going to be infinitely more helpful than my spreadsheet so as of today, I'm switched over.