Getting started on 2011

Okay, well, it's almost April.  And the garden doesn't look like this anymore (thank goodness).  We had a very snowy winter here in Boston, with almost 80 inches of snow, almost double our normal amount.  It's still very much chilly and blustery March here, but we've had touches of warm weather, and the crocuses are already up and the daffodils are just waiting for a few warm days to really let loose.

I'm a little slow in getting started this year, for our third season at the 200 Foot Garden, mostly because I've been busy with other various projects.  I don't know if we'll have use of the greenhouse this season--the new property manager at 99 Kent is checking out the possibilities of installing a fan.  Without a proper fan, the greenhouse is just too hot to be practical.  My guess is that we won't have it for this season, but maybe next year.

In the spirit of spring, I ordered a whole bunch of seeds for the garden on Saturday, from High Mowing and Victory Seeds.  Here's what we've got coming:

Tendergreen Mustard Greens
Vates Collards
Moon and Stars Watermelon
Tatume Summer Squash
Toma Verda Tomatillo
Mountain Princess Tomato
Moskovich Tomato
Rose de Berne Tomato
Matt's Wild Cherry Tomato
Yellow Perfection Tomato
Lemon Cucumber
Green Finger Cucumber
National Pickling Cucumber
Marketmore 76 Cucumber
Mammoth Melting Snow Pea
Genovese Basil
Oregano
Thyme
Golden Chard
Lacinato Dinosaur Kale
Early Jalepeno Pepper
Jupiter Pepper

Twenty-two different seeds.  Not bad for a long, narrow little garden.  We're actually not growing as many types of vegetables as last year--we're not going to grow pole beans or eggplant this year.  The Rainbow Chard didn't do so well, so we'll just do Golden.  And no standard kale, just dinosaur.

I love that this garden lets me experiment with new varieties.  All the tomatoes are new to me, as are the peppers.  I don't know how the melons will do, but we'll give it a shot.

Once the peas arrive, I'll put the word out to our volunteers (come join us!) and we'll plant snow peas along the fence.  They like the cool weather, and they'll be finished by the time the tomatoes are ready to go in the ground.


I still have a bunch of planning yet to do--need to order compost, rustle up some more donations (after spending $85 on seeds), and get volunteers lined up.  We're going to try a different watering system this year, too.

So much ahead, but that's the fun of it.  The good news is, with the seeds ordered, we're officially started.