gardening genetics

We spent much of the weekend outside again this weekend. First, we stopped by Bachman’s (told you I’d be bach. Is that joke done yet? It wasn’t even very good the first time.) and picked up some plants for our garden. To refresh your memory, this is our garden:

Jason mixes manure into the dirt in our garden.

The garden is 16 square feet, and is divided into 16 1-foot sections (a la Square Foot Gardening). According to Mel Bartholomew (author of the aforementioned book and this website), this is the best way to maximize your garden with a minimum amount of space and effort. Sign me up!

I wonder if this technique comes with the straw hat and rocking chair…

Mel Bartholomew and his by-the-square-foot gardens. [Image Source]

We’re going to grow half of the vegetables from seed and half from plants. And then we’ll see what does well and maybe by next year, we’ll be experts. (or maybe we’ll have given up). Here’s what we’re growing from seed: pumpkins, radishes, lettuce, scallions, onion, tomato, habenero peppers, serrano peppers, and cilantro (the tomato, peppers, and cilantro were started inside a few months ago and transplanted to the garden). Here’s what we’ve got that’s already a plant: roma tomatoes, jalepeno, cucumbers, muskmelon, watermelon. And the garlic… well, we just threw a couple of cloves in the ground to see what will happen. We’ve been searching for seeds or plants but haven’t found any. Does anyone know if this technique (or lack there of) will actually produce garlic? Any other tips for a nice garden with a good yield?

Garden layout. A little hard to see, but you get the picture. One type of fruit/veggie in each square, then you plant only as many of that plant that will fit in the square. For example, you can get 16 scallions in a square, but only 1 tomato plant.

I figure that even though JT and I are completely inexperienced with this gardening business, we’ve at least got genetics on our sides. Jason’s grandfather used to grow tomatoes, corn, and “a bunch of other crap that he used to sell on the side of the road” (men are so sentimental sometimes). My Great-Grandma Behnke used to live on a farm and I remember going over to her house as a little girl and playing while my mom, grandma, great-grandma, and aunts spent time out in the garden. I think my great-grandma grew corn, but I can say with absolute certainty that she grew rhubarb because I can remember eating lots of rhubarb kuchen at her house! Yummy! Of course, I also remember my Grandma and Grandpa Bruskewitz growing lots of stuff in the little greenhouse they had… and, man-oh-man, can my Grandma B make a mean rhubarb kuchen (although, in accordance with recent family legend, I cannot promise said kuchen will be bug-free. Sorry, grandma!). My Grandma Perry also has an amazing rock garden. The rock garden used to have raspberry and blackberry bushes in it and they were so yummy (but also, kind of a pain to pick because they were on a hill and it was tricky to pick them while standing on the hill). And my mom has done pretty well with her own garden… things are really starting to flourish in the backyard of their house (I remember planting things, then digging them up, then planting them again… perhaps now she is satisfied with the location of everything? nah, I suspect not.). Anyways, I will let her tell you about it in her new blog. But! If anyone knows of any other family gardening history, or has any good gardening stories, I want to hear them! Now! That’s an order, mister.

The current status of the garden. Not too impressive… but also not too bad, considering that it hailed 2 hours after we planted them.