Daily Photo March 2, 2008

Kate, natural born gardener. Look at the dirt on her face.

She crawled on all fours for the first time ever today. I put her down on the grass and I guess it was slightly damp and she didn’t want to get wet. So instead of slithering like she usually does, she stuck her butt in the air and, instead of dragging herself, she crawled on her hands and her knees.

Garden Inventory March 2, 2008

I bought more seeds. More vegetable seeds.

So now here is my complete inventory of vegetable, herb, and fruit seeds:

FRUITS
Heirloom Amish Moon & Stars Watermelon
Sugar Baby Watermelon

VEGETABLES
Heirloom Peas (Progress #9)
Tavera Bush Bean
Heirloom Wheatgrass
Jalapeno Pepper
Heirloom Straight Eight Cucumber
Heirloom Black Beauty Zucchini
Sweet Corn
Beets
Florence Fennel
Little Finger Baby Gourmet Carrot
Danvers Carrot
Heirloom Red Winter Kale
California Wonder Sweet Bell Pepper
Heirloom Cherry Belle Radish
Heirloom Bloomsdale Spinach
Heirloom Scallions

SALAD GREENS
Mache
Microgreens
North Pole Lettuce
Arugula
Mesclun
Heirloom Four Seasons Lettuce
Butterhead Speckles Lettuce
Carmen Radicchio

TOMATO
Heirloom Brandywine Tomato
Heirloom Italian Roma Tomato
Heirloom Cherokee Purple Tomato

HERBS
Echinachea
Catnip
Basil
Astragalus
Stinging Nettles
Roman Chamomile
Dandelion
Calendula
Heirloom Cilantro

No, I’m not going to plant ALL of those. But I am going to plant a lot of them.

I also have these rain forest seeds that my inlaws brought back from Costa Rica:

TREES
Blue Jacaranda
Golden Goddess
Pink Shower Tree
Flame of the Forest
Royal Poinciana

PLANTS
Ylang Ylang

The trees I might wait on until we move to a place with a bigger yard. I’m very excited about the ylang ylang! And the trees are all gorgeous flowering trees so I’m excited to plant those (one day).

I also bought a bunch of seeds to plant on the other side of the house. I have a lot of soil over on the north side of our house. Unfortunately it’s partial shade. So I need a bunch of plants that will grow in shade.

I chose these (on an online site that specializes in rare and heirloom seeds):

SHADE PLANTS
Carpet Bugle (Ajuga repens)
Lady’s Mantle (Alchemilla mollis)
Lords and Ladies (Arum italicum)
Blue Shrimp Plant (Cerinthe major purpurescens)
Sago Palm (Cycas revoluta)
Bleeding Hearts (Dicentra spectabilis)
Abyssinian Banana (Ensete ventricosum)
Hosta (Hosta sieboldiana)

I also got a couple of vines to go on our fences and ugly brick walls:

VINES
Moonflower (Ipomoea alba)
Purple Bell Vine (Rhodochiton atrosanguineus)

And today I bought two organic plants at the farmer’s market: chives and mint.

Currently in my herb/vegetable garden, I have the following:

VEGETABLES & HERBS
Red Leaf Lettuce
Butter Lettuce
Thyme
Sage
Oregano
Rosemary (two)
Lemon Balm
Parsley
Italian Parsley (flat leaf)
Arugula (growing like a weed)
Cilantro
Dill (barely hanging on)
One last tomato plant that I did not pull up (currently has two tomatoes I am about to harvest)

I still (unbelievably) need a few more seed packets. I want to grow garlic and celery and I want one or two more kinds of tomato. I’d also love to grow some baby bok choy (it’s easy) and potatoes. And onion. And Riana is also sending me some eggplants, cantaloupe, yard long beans, chinese cabbage, carrots and fennel seeds from France.

In addition to all of that (take a deep breath) I also need a few fruit trees. I’m going to get the dwarf ones, since they’ll need to be in pots. I don’t have sunny spots for them in the yard — plus, I want to take them with me when we move if at all possible.

I want to get:

FRUIT TREES
Banana
Avocado
Meyer Lemon (we have regular lemon already but I want a Meyer)
Lime
Blood Orange

I also really want a grape vine and some berries.

I know, it’s a lot. But these are the things we eat regularly. And if I can grow them, which I can, why not?