Grow, grow, grow your boat🌱
Growing things is something I really had to work hard to acheive. As a young kid things i studied came naturally to me, with little effort. MY first real effor t to grow something was a moonflower vine up the post of my mailbox. It failed miserably. I barely got a sprout and what was there withered fairly pathetically. After a silent flounce, I eventually came back for the sake of cooking what I grew.
These days I mostly grow herbs and food. Cold resitant foods that produce more than one item are my preferred plants. It's hard to get a plant growing around here, sometimes with the inconsistent weather, as global warming snowballs, so things that last as long as possible and make a lot are the MVPs of mid continent gardens.
Currently Growing:
Chives!
Chives have beautiful purple flowers and are a tasty part of the Alum family. They do really well in the local soil, if you keep them properly weeded. They can't keep you fed all by themselves, but they're a good addition to meals and worth having in the garden.
Chives are toxic to cats and dogs, like other Allum fmaily members. They like fun sun with light shade. and slightly acidic soil.
Rosemary
Rosemary is a strong smelling plant that adds a lot of flavor. It's also drought resistant, which is good for forgetful gardeners.
Pansies.
Year two of potted pansies. Nice, dark purple and white flowers add some late spring color to the patio before thing really get growing.
Last Year's Growings
Marigolds!
Marigolds are one of my few purely decorative plants. I hear they deter rabbits, and even if that is not true, they are still a nice pop of yellow that doesn't turn into dandelion fluff and blow away. They're fairly cheap, as well. You can get them in four-packs or grow your own from seeds.
Eggplants!
Last year was my first time growing eggplants. I can safely say I had more eggplant than I knew what to do with. If tomato and Zucchini people compete for Number One Most Likely To Foist Produce Off On You, then I felt like a comfortable third place. I learned how to cook eggplant fairly quickly. Honestly a good producer, if you've got the space and time to weed around it leading up to autumn. The purple flowers are lovely as well, when you have them.
Arugula! It's my first year growing Arugula from seed. Last year I got a free plant and dropped it in around my lettuce (which became very bitter in the summer heat) so it didn't have much room to grow. This year it's next to the radishes, which i will promptly replace with more arugula or with more radishes. Arugula is a very good leafy vegetable and honestly should get more attention. Seems to tolerate a higher water level, but also seems to respond well to drier days, so IDK what i'm doing,really!
Cucumbers!
Cucumbers are growing. OR at least the plant is. I'm going some from a start for myself and some for seed as part of a community garden aimed at helping feed the hungry in the community.I look forward to seeing the vines uncurl and flower. Also cucumbers are good in bibimbap or on tiny little tea sandwiches. Edit jun26 2023: The vines are growi~ng! They are growing a hell of a lot. They are threatening to choke out my thyme and strangle my tomatoes. Post Op on the cucumbers: I will be very careful about how much I allow my cucumbers to grow. I ended up with way too many cucumbers. I tried jarring some as pickles, which are tasty, but honestly not wortht he trouble of dealing with so many cucumbers.
Radishes!
Listen i don't like radishes that much, but i've been on a MoDaoZuShi kick and wanted to try my hand at radish farming. I think i weeded out half my radishes by accidentally mistaking the sprout for grass. Oh well! What survived grew doggedly. I ended up with a handful of radishes that were chopped and and added to soup.
Petunias: I have some petunias in purple hanging out in a pot. Nothing special. They're struggling against the vagaries of the squirrels that pass through and tear up the dirt looking for nuts. They've outlasted the pansies which have fallen to said squirrels, so I am mildly optimistic about their longevity.
Tomatoes
need barely be mentioned, they're so ubiquitous as veggie garden stapes in the States. IIRC I bought a Big Boy variety and didn;t start from seed this year.
Shiso!
It grew beautifully until rabbits and squirrels discovered it sitting on my porch and either crashed full body into it, or decided it was tasty and demolished it. Now I have a sad, baren stick of a plant and some dried leaves. I didn't really have a plan for the leaves, but i'm bummed anyway
Okra!
Okra was grown just to see if I could do it. I planted it very late in the season and only got one ot two peices of okra out of the plant before it was time to pull it.
Cabbage!
I grew multiple cabbages. Bad luck with rabbits in the past led me to go for multiple plantings to ward off having it alle aten. This time not a one was eaten until I pulled it. These things got pretty big and took up a lot of space in my garden. Trying to ward off forty days and forty nights of gas from eating all that cabbage, I donated the large ones to the food shelf.I'm sure they appreciated the food as much as I appreciated a guilt free way to off-load the stuff!
