Straight from the Farm

It rained!!  Finally!  April was a very dry and hot month up until the last weekend.  And while it may have been pouring kittens and puppies outside, a nicely organized and supplied potting shed was at hand.  As such I got several seeds started on April 28th, including two varieties (’Polar Bear’ and ‘Granny’s Bouquet’) of zinnias for my cutting garden, a mix of cherry tomatoes, a mix of heirloom tomatoes, lemon cucumbers, round zucchini, and some chamomile for my tea garden.  

I know it’s okay to direct sow the cucumbers and zucchini, but thought I’d try starting them in the greenhouse to get a headstart on these summer crops.  Frankly, I’m not wild about growing either of them in this particular garden since they take up so much space (I do like eating them though). But if I get them producing early enough, I’m hoping they’ll finish in plenty of time to pull out and make space for some of the fall crops I’m aiming to grow.  

It was nice to finally get some stuff on my bench in the greenhouse.  Since these few trays took up residence there, I’ve almost filled up the rest of the bench with plant material I scavenged from around the area, more trays of seeds (another post on those later), some herbs bought during a trip to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens last week, and transplants I got from the farm (it’s nice to have connections).  Now I’m just really antsy to see these seeds start germinating!  

And since it was rainy outside, I also took the opportunity to take a few artsy-fartsy photos of the stuff in the potting shed.  Not all were that great (awfully poor lighting in the rain in there), but I like these two.  Makes gardening look a little less messy, ya know?