We are having fabulous weather here right now. It is very hard not to start gardening, even though I know we will get more frost before April and it is too early. (Okay, I already put in some potatoes and a fig tree. But that is all I am planting, I swear. Because it is too early.)

Anyway, at least I can plan the garden right now. I make a list every year–here is 2009’s list–and go from there. This is what I am going to plant in my vegetable garden 2010:

Plants Already In The Yard:

* Two artichoke plants –They have never done well. I am going to transplant them and see if they do better in another spot.
* Cherry tree
* Nectarine tree
* Apricot tree—This has yet to produce fruit. I am starting get concerned.
* Fig tree


(Courtesy About Garden)

* Orange bush
* Two lemon bushes
* Kumquat
* Strawberries
* Various herbs

Plants I Will Be Planting:

* Tomatoes—Three plants: a brandywine, a beef steak, and some other kind of tomato.
* Bell Peppers—You can’t have enough bell peppers. I am going to put in at least 6 plants, maybe 8.
* Jalapeño
* Some Other Pepper—Last year it was Italian sweet peppers, the year before, cayenne peppers. It depends on what the nursery has.
* Zucchini
* Winter Squash—Butternut or acorn.
* Peas—My husband wants English peas this year.
* Green beans—This year I am going to put in French green beans as well as Kentucky green beans.
* Beets
* Fingerling Potatoes—As mentioned, I cut up a potato and put it in the ground last weekend.
* Watermelon Radishes—I had some from Whole Foods and they are sooo cool.


(Courtesy McKenzie Seeds)

* Crane Melons—They are juicy cantaloupes and grow great here.
* Giant Sunflowers—These are so much fun and pretty in the garden.
* Leeks—Every year I plant these and love them. They grow so easily and are so versatile.
* Hops—My husband wants them for beer.


(Courtesy The Beer Life)

* Chard
* Garlic
* Marjoram
* Basil
* Parsley
* Stevia

(And since I have the room,) Plants I Am Still Considering:

* Corn—You get so little for so many plants, and fresh corn is cheap in the store. On the other hand, they are fun and easy to grow.
* Cucumber—I love them, but I am also tired of them. We haven’t eaten last year’s pickles yet.
* Carrots—I eat them all the time, but they are so cheap and they attract gophers.
* Fennel bulbs—I have one plant that I use for the leaves, but I want to grow it for the bulbs.
* Spinach—Every year I plant these and every year I have trouble getting them to full size. But darn it, spinach should be able to grow here!
* Arugula
* Radicchio
* Pearl Onions
* Shallots
* Celery

Others?

What are you thinking of planting?

I saw this in the grocery store and had to buy it. It is flowering kale and it is lovely. Here it is from the side:

As far as ornamental greens go, this one is both a pretty border for the garden and a practical vegetable to grow. Kale is very versatile. You can fry it, roast it, boil it, or–in this case, at least, since it is unusually tender for kale–eat it raw. This particular kale tastes like cabbage, which makes sense because kale is closely related to cabbage.

Here’s a great recipe for kale from Orangette: Boiled Kale with a Fried Egg and Toast.

Every January, we get a burst of good weather for a few days and it feels like spring all of a sudden. And even though I know it’s not gardening time, it is so tempting to plant. (I weeded instead.)

But you can start seedlings around now, either indoors or in a cold frame like this one from Instructables, which is recycled from an old window. The window acts like a little greenhouse to protect the seedlings from the cold. (Via Permie.net)

Here’s a money-saving tip for gardeners who use PG&E as their utility: As I talked about on here before, I was determined to find cheap mulch for the garden. I followed up on the rumor that your electric company will give you free or cheap mulch. The idea is that since the electric company is trimming branches and running them through wood chippers, they will deliver some of it to your house for you to use in your garden as mulch.

I called PG&E, who does the service in my area, and the girl on the other end of the phone didn’t know what mulch was. I had a long conversation with her and neither she nor her supervisor really knew what to do with me. She put in a work order with the tree trimming department and said they would get back to me in three weeks.

So I hung up and did a Google search and found the following from a FAQ on the PG&E website:

Can I get wood chips?

Yes. Our contractors are always looking for customers to accept wood chips. This is an environmentally friendly way to dispose of the wood chips. Wood chips make great mulch, keep weeds down and keep trees moist. Please call 1-800-743-5000 if you are interested in this service. A load of chips is about 10 cubic yards of mixed tree material.

I called again, used the phrase “wood chips” instead of mulch in explaining what I wanted and was given the numbers to companies that do tree trimming for PG&E. I called the one that does my area, and a man told me that I could have as much mulch as I wanted, for free. The problem was that they only came through my area once a year, in July. I had missed the window for this year.

However, he was willing to sign me up for next year. Next July, PG&E will bring two truck loads of mulch to my yard. For free. I plan to use it liberally in the garden beds and store whatever is left in plastic garbage cans.

So there you have it–my future mulch needs are covered. No more buying $5 bags of wood chips. This will save me at least $150 a year and cut down on the cost of gardening considerably.

Speaking of the Tightwad Gazette, I was flipping through it and came upon this:

Dear Amy,

When my sister was married last year, I took the half-dead roses from her bouquet after the ceremony. At home, I rooted them by cutting off the heads, making a clean cut on the bottoms, dipping the fresh-cut bottoms in rooting hormone, and putting them in a pot that was half Perlite and half soil. I kept these moist until rooted and then planted them in a shaded location in my garden. This year, on her first anniversary, my sister received a gift that could never be replace: 12 rose bushes from her wedding bouquet.

– Kimberly Hill
Warren, Michigan

As soon as I read that, I immediately imagined a rose garden made from anniversary, wedding, Valentine’s, and other meaningful bouquets that you receive in a lifetime. It sounded neat.

I was under the impression that rooting roses is hard, but the above passage makes it sound like rooting any other plant. In fact, this how-to on rooting roses in Hartwood Roses goes over almost the exact same process. Even better, they recycle a milk jug to plant the cutting in and a soda bottle to protect the rose from the elements and keep in moisture while it roots, like so:

(Image is also from the above linked-to Hartwood Roses post.)

I find that winter is a good time for little gardening projects like this. Now if someone would just bring me a bouquet of roses…

I want a wood chipper. I love the idea of running branches through it and ending up with mulch that I can spread around all over my yard. Talk about recycling…

Unfortunately, I don’t have the money for a wood chipper right now, and my vegetable garden, herb garden, and flower garden all need to be mulched for the winter. The $4-a-bag price at the hardware store adds up very quickly, so I’m looking for cheaper alternatives.

I don’t like the idea of rubber, sand, gravel, or glass mulch because it ruins the soil. And since mulching is partly about looks, I don’t want to use newspaper or hay to mulch. I want tree clippings. So here are some ways I’ve come up with to get free or cheap mulch:

Search Online Forums–On Craigslist, someone put up a post for free mulch near my house. Apparently I can go pick it up, but I doubt it will still be there at lunchtime. I may go see anyway, though.

Call the Local Utilities–According to this thread on Gardenweb, you can call your local electric company and see if they have mulch available. According to one poster:

I just received my first load of free mulch from the electric company.
It was delivered the same day I called, all fresh from that days work.
There were 5 other families that also wanted a load just that day.

The guy comes over, checks over your drive way and picks a location.
He then marks it with a flag.
Next thing you know the big truck is out there dumping it!

Ask Friends or Neighbors–If your neighbor has a bunch of pine trees or something else that makes ready mulch, then you could ask to bag it up for free. I don’t have this option, though.

Rent a Wood Chipper–If it costs $100 to rent a wood chipper for a day, but you can make as much mulch as you want in that time, it might be worth it. The only thing is, you have to have a way to transport the machine to your house. I’m pretty sure a wood chipper won’t fit in my Honda Civic.

That’s all I have. How do you get cheap or free mulch?

I’m going to grow asparagus next year. Every time I read about the plant, I get confused. The asparagus grows straight out of the ground but then it turns into a fern? Huh? Well, the above video did a nice job of explaining how the plant works to me. Asparagus plants sound cool!

Food in Jars reminded me of a cool wedding favor: herbs plants. Awhile back, I went to a bridal shower and received a little sage plant as a favor. I planted it in my garden and it has since gotten huge. I use it all the time in cooking.

As much as I think favors are unnecessary at weddings, I like the idea of giving a plant as a wedding favor. Herbs are a good choice because they smell nice, they are a gift people can use, and they are cheap to assemble. If you wanted to be frugal and had the time, you could probably grow all your favors yourself for minimal cost.

Along those same lines, I like the idea of tree saplings as wedding favors.

Weddingbee has a story of a couple who gave the above seedlings as a favor because they got married on a family farm, which had a road lined with cedar trees leading up to it. That sounds lovely.

Another site advocated giving packets of seeds, or two flower bulbs in a box, as favors. Both excellent ideas.

Plants symbolize something growing and getting stronger and eventually producing fruit… just like love! Awwww… Anyway, it’s certainly a more environmentally friendly choice for a favor. Better than, say, this:

(Food in Jars link via Justinsomnia)

Sunset has a guide to planting cool season crops. It goes over the plants you can put in right now that fall is finally here.

I wasn’t going to do this this year, but now I am thinking I might put in a few fall crops after all. They include:

Lettuce, even though I can never get the darn stuff to get beyond the baby lettuce stage without it bolting.

Green Onions

And Cauliflower–which I have never grown before.

What are you putting in this fall?

Who knew? Growing a square watermelon is simply a matter of growing it inside a hinged cube. The melon conforms to the mold as it grows.

Instructables has a how-to for growing square melons. It’s kind of cool, although not particularly useful for anything other than stacking the melons better.