Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Grow All the Things!

I mentioned in an earlier post that we recently moved to the farm.  The Farmer's grandparents had set up a pretty sweet vegetable garden when they lived here.  They had fenced the whole thing to keep critters out, and when animals started climbing/jumping the fence, they put electric fencing around the whole thing too.  I've always wanted to have a big vegetable garden, because there is NOTHING better than eating fresh veggies you just picked a few hours ago.  But I've always lived in rental housing that either didn't have any yard space, or that I didn't want to put the time/work into since I knew I wouldn't be living there permanently.

With the sweet garden setup waiting for me at the farm, I knew that this year I wanted to try my hand at growing some things.  I've done tomatoes before, and I love fresh grown tomatoes, so I'll definitely be planting some.  I also plan on planting sweet corn, cucumbers, watermelon, green beans, and onions.  I've been itching to get the garden going for several weeks now, so the day before Easter I went out and planted potatoes.  I waited a few days, then went out to check if they had sprouted yet.

Nothing.

I waited a few more days, until it had been a week since I planted them.  

Still nothing.

By the 2 week mark, there was still no sign of life and I was pretty sure I had somehow screwed up the potatoes.  Then today, I saw this:
They are finally poking through!  Not all of them yet, but at least it's a start.  

One of the fun things about this spring on the farm is that plants are popping up, bushes are greening up, but I don't know what any of them are.  It's been fun to watch as things come to life and to try to guess what everything is.  There is a small bush by our garage that didn't look like anything special when we moved in during the dead of winter, but a couple of weeks ago it bloomed with the most beautiful, fragrant lilacs!  I've always wanted to have a lilac bush, so I was really excited when it greened up enough that I could tell that it was lilacs.

There is a plant growing in a shady spot by our back door that I though was a hosta.  But when I looked at them closer today, I noticed that they have little stems with buds on them that don't quite look like hostas.  I'm thinking now that they may be Lily of the Valley?  I've always wanted to try growing it, so I'll be super excited if that's what it really is!  This is what it looks like today:
I'm anxious to watch it grow and bloom! I read that it can be poisonous to dogs, so I hope Harlee doesn't decide to munch on it. 

One flower I reeeeeeeally wanted to add to the yard was peonies.  They are just so darn beautiful!  In the meantime, there is a row of at least 2 different kinds of plants growing between our house and the shed.  Early in the growth process I recognized that most of the row are day lilies.  But there was some sort of plant growing at one end of the row that I had absolutely no idea what it was.  I swear it has grown a foot overnight, because the last time I checked it, it was only about 6 inches tall.  Today I stopped to get a closer look, and this is what I saw:

I'm like 99% sure they are peonies!  Hooray!  :)  I'm lucky that The Farmer's grandparents have such great taste in flowers.

I do have a few other flowers I want to add to the yard, but we have such a great start with the plants that his grandparents left.



No comments:

Post a Comment