Today Jim and I went to the local farmers’ market to get the last couple of plants for our garden. We wanted more kale seedlings, both the regular green kale and the dinosaur kale we grew last year. The mature dinosaur kale plant is really unusual, and it became a conversation piece in the garden; every visitor wanted to know what the heck it was. We also bought some more tomatoes, of the Amish paste variety. We love to use those tomatoes in our tomato sauces because they have a high pulp content and a great taste.
When the light rain finally let up in the afternoon, I ventured out to drop the seedlings into the ground. The tomatoes filled the last vacant 1/12 in our large round center bed, and the kale joined the other kale and cabbages in the large bed next door. We can now say the garden is complete, although I am almost certain we will find a few more spots to tuck in a few more seedlings.
To take inventory, then, this year’s garden includes:
• kale, green, Russian red, and dinosaur
• cabbage, green and red
• squash, delicata, acorn, butternut
• tomatoes, San Marzano, Amish paste, brandywine, sun gold, Ava’s purple ball, Black Prince, Principe Borghese drying tomato
• peppers, tasty green bell, jalapeno, red habanero, purira
• pumpkin, sweet pie and jack o-lite
• spinach
• peas, Progress No. 9, SugarSnap (registered trademark) and Wanda. (The Cascadia seeds failed to produce any plants).
• basil, lots and lots of basil
We also are growing:
• asparagus
• black raspberries
• black currants
• hops
• mint
• thyme
• sage
• rosemary
• lavender
• echinachia
• oregano
• lovage
I think that’s it. I’m probably forgetting something. And it’s very likely we’ll be adding a few more plants when we think of something else that we can’t do without.
