2017 Planting Calendar

During the February Pollen-pocolypse, when I couldn't bear to go outside, I made a plan for the rest of the year, looking up the planting and harvest times of all the seeds I want to sow this year. I'm going to post it here.

February 15 - Plant 1st Peas (Did it, obviously)
February 28 - 1st Peas sprout (They're coming up this week, a bit slow)
April 1 - Plant 2nd Peas
   Plant Kale
   Plant Morning Glories
   Plant Nasturtiums
   Plant Moon Flowers
   Plant Hollyhocks
   Plant Okra indoors
   Plant Artichoke indoors
   Plant Asparagus indoors
April 11 - Kale sprouts
   Moon Flowers sprout
April 13 - Nasturtiums sprout
April 15 - Plant Pumpkins
   Plant Squash
   Plant Corn
   Plant Beans
   2nd Peas sprout
   Morning Glories sprout
   Hollyhocks sprout
   Okra sprouts
   Artichoke sprouts
   Asparagus sprouts
April 25 - Pumpkins sprout
   Squash sprouts
   Corn sprouts
   Beans sprout
   Harvest 1st Peas
May 1 - Transplant Okra
   Transplant Artichoke
   Transplant Asparagus
May 21 - Harvest Kale
May 29 - Harvest Okra
June 10 - Harvest 2nd Peas
July 4 - Harvest Beans
   Harvest Corn
July 14 - Harvest Squash
August 8 - Harvest Pumpkins
September 28 - Harvest Artichoke

All the information for planting times and harvest times are taken from the backs of seed packets. Will they be accurate? Do I even have enough room in my garden for all this? Probably not.

I also want to plant Amaranth and Carrots. We'll see.

As I Emerge From A Pollen-Coma

I talked about how every year there's a false spring in February that makes me want to go outside and start planting. I forgot to mention that every year, immediately following the warm weather, the plants also get excited and FLOOD the city with pollen. This means that I spend the next week or two in bed, my sinuses so irritated that it feels like my face will crawl off my skull.

So I didn't get into the garden much in the following weeks. Just a couple of times to check on the chickens before retreating to the house and my benadryl.

But spring marched on without me and, washing dishes yesterday, I was thrilled to look out the kitchen window and see that some of the apple trees budding out!

Not only that, the asparagus that struggled last year (mostly because of the chickens. I blame the chickens) has sent up 2 spears!I am absolutely thrilled with this as I was pretty sure that none of the asparagus I had planted last year had survived.

 Even more surprising, it looks like we have a new guest in the garden. At some point during the winter, a gnome settled into a corner of the wall. I managed to sneak a picture of him as he was sweeping his porch. Well, I'm happy to let him stay as long as he doesn't disturb the plants.

Apparently hummingbirds are back in the city (seems early) so I should try putting out a feeder again. I'm really bad about keeping bird feeders full, especially hummingbirds. In the past I've made a big batch of nectar for them and kept it in the fridge. But it takes a lot of shelf space and spoils before I use it all. So this year I'll try making small batches as I need them. But more on that (with photos) later.