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Sustainability... Yeah, We Can Do That!

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Category: Getting Back to My Roots | Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 3:03 pm

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I'm ashamed to admit I've been playing favorites with my new veggie garden and my old one is feeling a bit put off! The old garden is 50+ percent partial shade, which makes it less than ideal for some of the more popular veggies.
The new veggie garden is in a primo sunny spot and is thriving, chock full of broccoli raab, 4 kinds of tomatoes, at least four kinds of peppers, several kinds of eggplant, several pumpkins, green beans, summer squash, Proso Millet, Golden Amaranth, garlic and tall vining cucumbers. The neighboring sunflower maze is now almost as tall as me!
I've been growing mizuna, kale, peas, lettuce, mesclun mix, several mustards in the old garden.With the summer heat, its time to re-do it. This would be my first 3 season year, if I pull it off!
Recently I decided to transition the old garden to a perennial veggie garden. Bountiful Gardens (California company) has really neat stuff like Old King Henry, a leafy perennial veggie that dates back to the middle ages.It's like spinach. I'll also add French Sorrel, Perpetual Spinach, Rhubarb and Sweet Cicely to my existing Jerusalem Artichokes, Lovage, Egyptian Walking Onion, Welsh Onion, asparagus and strawberries. Presto changeo, I'm now in love with the old garden again!!! Each of these perennials can take a little partial shade and they are all hardy to at least my zone, 7. Never give up! There's always a way!
The herb garden has taken on an Italian countryside personality of its own. Its at the sunniest, hottest side of the house, surrounded on all but one side by driveway or stucco. Hot and dry, just the way they they like it! To the established herbs I added six artichokes, from seed. They are looking impressive with their erect, jagged, silvery tinged leaves. The 5 kinds of Lavender are bursting with white or purple flowers and teeming with bees. The Greek Oregano is actually looking like a bush. Time for us to put it together with the little bit of Basil that I have and some of the pile of Italian Garlic I just harvested to patiently await the arrival of some tomatoes for a great pizza or sketti sauce. The Tansy and Rosemary are also helping to keep bad bugs off the "floor" of my veggie garden. I've strewn their leaves there and it's working!
Each year we are getting closer to being able to cover a major portion of our food needs with our garden. Keep reading, Rhonda...Yep, I could be a modern day pioneer, with some work and a few dozen pointers!


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Green_Numb wrote on Wed Jul 01, 2009 2:21 am:

wow sounds like you got some great stuff going on there..

lots of different things and 2 gardens as well. :-)

growing ya own food is quite cool isnt it.

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