Adding to the garden

I've been doing lots of stuff in the yard the past few weeks. This past weekend, we went up North to get some ticks, but mostly to see my parents. It was a very relaxing time and I got more plants from my mom to add to the garden. I went on a planting spree on Monday, even though it was incredibly humid. I was too excited about the plants to wait!

The columbine is doing excellent against the garage (it's one of the kinds of plants I planted last May).

Between the columbine and the day lilies, I planted the clump of tiger lilies I got from my mom. I can't wait until they bloom!

My parents also got us a planter for the deck. Chris got another one right away. The planter from my parents is now filled with strawberry plants, and Chris wants more! He's a strawberry addict. It will be fun to see the berries develop and see if/how much they spread. It was amazing that the bees found the flowers almost right after we put it out on the deck.

In the other planter, I planted the two herb plants I've had going for quite a while and the other herbs I got from Mom. We have oregano, cilantro, chives, rosemary and parsley. Chris used the parsley almost right away in a dish he made for supper. I'm really excited about seeing the chives bloom too.


And finally, my experiment. A year or so ago, I got the book Grow Great Grub: Organic Food from Small Places by Gayla Trail. She is great at explaining how easy it is to grow lots of different types of fruits and vegetables. The one I'm trying out is growing potatoes in a garbage can. Just so happens I had a garbage can with holes in it lying around the garage recently (it was used as a compost bin before and we recently got one of the big bins). And then I was reading through Grow Great Grub this spring looking for more information and there it was: Trashy Potatoes.

You fill the can with about 6" of dirt, then plant the seed potatoes. Mom gave me seed potatoes too! They were pretty far along as you can see from the pictures. After the sprouts get 8" tall, you are supposed to cover them up about 2/3 of the way, and keep repeating the process, hilling the potatoes as they come up. At some point, there will be lots of greenery and flowers and when those die, the potatoes should be ready.

One thing that could happen since I'm using a metal can is that the potatoes could get cooked. We'll see though. I think it will be ok because the metal can will not be exposed in the hot afternoon sun, but the greenery will.

I will keep you updated!