Wild Violet's Garden Blog

Last weekend after the snow melted, Bernie and the Girl and I ventured out to mark out the soon to be veggie plot.  It looks big.  I like it.  We sprayed lines on the ground with marking paint and comtemplated how to kill the grass in the expanded part.  Mother Nature is still being stingy, it's 50 degrees and spitting rain off and on today, and it snowed again Tuesday night (melted again Wednesday), so Roundup won't 'take' as the grass isn't actively growing yet to absorb it.  Plus, I'm trying to go organic in this garden from the very beginning.  I decided to smother the turf instead, which will take 2 or 3 weeks I suppose, but Lord knows I won't have time to build the raised beds before then anyways.  We laid out some old tarps and tacked them down w/ rocks, boards, the arbor, and patio furniture.  Isn't it lovely?  Our neighbors just love us:  In other news, my seeds downstairs are going crazy.  The onions got ano...

Today is April 16th and we are back to winter.  Seriously?  Last week it was 60 degrees!  Alas, Wisconsin:  Dining al fresco, anyone? The Potager Project On the bright side, I got lumber for the potager boxes delivered yesterday, so now to hire a carpenter (Hubby) to build me some boxes!  Lumber cost $335, EEK!  I better really enjoy this project.  I will, right?  RIGHT?

Inspired by the kitchen garden book I mentioned a few posts back, I have officially begun to implement my 'Potager Plan'.  The perennial garden next to my patio is going to become a rectangular potager with wooden boxes as raised beds for growing veggies.  I have always been annoyed with the garden next to our patio but wasn't sure why.  I widened it to fit some more plants in, then widened it some more and curved the edge to make for easier mowing along it, and still it just looks, I don't know, like a really boring perennial garden.  Now I think it's not the garden that's the problem, but actually the giant, square, stamped-concrete behemoth of a patio next to it.  It doesn't fit into the scheme of curvy foundation beds around the house. Since it's a little tougher so change concrete, I've decided to try changing the garden instead.  I wanted veggies growing closer to the house, and I can't get much cl...

Spring has finally arrived!  Today is the third day in a row of sunny weather and temps reaching the 50's and even low 60's.  Hallelujah, finally!  The Girl and I are able to be outside a lot more, which she loves.  Here are a few pics from our walkabout on Wednesday: The Iris reticulata are up! These are little bulbs you plant in the fall that bloom in early spring before the tulips.  They're always the first thing in bloom in our yard. We like to pick up pine cones, and we like to pick the flowers. Happy Spring!

I'm behind in posting my seed starting progress.  On Wed, March 16th, about 8 weeks till last predicted frost, I started my pepper seeds.  I planted two cells of Jalapeno, two of green bell peppers and 5 of the colorful Carnival Mix bells.  I always plant 2-3 seeds per cell and then thin to the strongest survivor.  So they are all up and happy now: I was planning to start my tomato and broccoli seeds a week ago on Tues, March 29th (6 weeks till last frost) but didn't get around to it until Friday, April 1st.  Close enough.  Mother Nature's behind this spring too if you ask me.  It snowed last week, for pete's sake! Last night, I went down to water and check on things, and the Romanesco Broccoli seeds are already up!  That's got to be a broccoli land speed record, right?  Three days?  The package says they emerge in 10-21 days so I am feeling pretty dang good about my wicked horticultural skillz.  He...

In my 'spare' time (ha ha, that's funny), I'm reading a super cool book from the library about Potagers, i.e. fancy kitchen gardens.  It's called " Designing the New Kitchen Garden: An American Potager Handbook ", by Jennifer Bartley.  I have been trying to decide where to build the new raised beds I want for veggies and I haven't been able to find a logical spot in our already disorganized yard.  Then I realized to be a proper kitchen garden, it should be really close to the house, like REALLY close.  So, I'm contemplating right next to the back patio, which will require much transplanting of existing stuff to...some places to be determined.  But for now, I'm enjoying the inspiration and the planning stage.  To be continued...

Yesterday was eight weeks until our last frost (supposedly), so the Girl and I did get around to starting our pepper plants today, all nine of them!  I am trying not to overplant seeds this season, as Lord knows I don't need peppers from as many plants as I have seed for in three packets.  We planted 2 to 3 seeds per cell, to be thinned to the healthiest sprout when they emerge.  We'll have two Jalapeno plants, three California Wonder, and four Carnival Mix.  The latter has by far the funnest colors, so I decided they'll get the most space.  Google Images of Carnival Mix peppers and you'll see why.  Incidentally, when I say the Girl and I started the seeds, I mean I did it and it took three times as long as it should have while herding her out of all the forbidden junk in the basement and trying to keep her from drinking out of the watering can (no fert or anything in it, but still, gross).  She...