Just got back from the NW Flower and Garden Show.  Tilth's display garden had a ton of gold medals on it!  I almost cried when I saw it!  It was stunningly gorgeous.  So glad I was able to do my small part to help it happen. Picked up a pair of garden boots (huzzah! No more dirty heels!) and a gorgeous wicker basket to haul my gardening supplies and harvest.  

And a blue topaz ring.  Yes, a ring. For my finger.  Aside from my wedding rings, I don't own any rings. And since I am now 3 months into actually not biting my fingernails anymore (i know, i know. I'm 35 year-old nail biter.  I just refused to be a 36 year-old nail biter), I celebrated by purchasing something frilly and girly  and that had nothing to do with sweating or dirt or stink.   I've decided that this is the Year of Beauty and Being Feminine.  I'm starting it off with this ring. So there.

Seeds
My seed order is trickling in.   Cabbage, Delicata squash, early hot peppers,  3 types of tomatoes, Ambrosia melon, broccoli raab are all here.  Still waiting for the Ronde de Nice squash, Cocozella di Napoli squash (the memory of the taste of that squash just came floding into my memory.  It just needs a light sautee with good olive oil, sea salt, and fresh ground pepper. Totally decadent.), and Petit Gris de Rennes Melon.  Between those, last year seeds, and what was given to me at the last Tilth planting party--I'm full up of seeds for this year (and years to come).

Garden
Of course, I'm just generally worried about the garden these days. Worried that nothing is going to grow well this year.  Trying to figure out how to hedge my bets without having a soil test done. :/  I'm feeling a bit smushed as things are going to be going into the ground in about 10 days.  I will be so heartbroken if I tripled my planting area and don't get a decent harvest.

I've got almost everything planne t out at this point. Or, at least I have finally figured out how much we will need. Where it goes will be easy.

I also have to get all the trellises built this weekend.  And figure out what will go into containers to be trellised vs. in the ground.

Citrus
My citrus plants are seriously unhappy.  The lime tree has 4 leaves on the thing. It's barely hanging on.  My girlfriend, the Meyer lemon, isn't fairing much better either. I've been fighting pests all winter.  The ants seem to bring them in. I can't tell if they are aphids or something else. I suspect it is aphids since the ants are around. I'm not sure.  But things aren't going well and haven't been going well and it's adding to my general malaise about being able to grow my own food.

I say this while also pricing out 2 dwarf nectarine/peach trees that I'll also put into pots and also need special care during the winter.  

This is getting ridiculous.  Seriously.    I keep buying food. It doesn't grow but I won't stop with the obsession.

My learnings, let me show you to them.

I feel almost manic after another COG class.  I'm bursting with ideas.

I think I'm going to say RIP to "Square Foot Gardening".  It isn't a bad system.  It makes sense, but I've been a bit overwhelmed my first year with it because I also do think about things like not planting the same family in the same space over and over.  Trying to plan 100 squares feels daunting to me.  I'm not sure why.  I probably have it in my head that each square needs something different.

Anyway, I learned all about fertility and family crop rotation.  It makes a whole lot more senese to me now.  Still a bit of a pain to figure out, but I tihnk I'm going to divide up my plots a little larger and just do the leaf, root, flower, fruit rotation.  I have all winter to figure out how to compose it as how much sun I get throughout the year may be a factor.

The other nice idea about just going with a fertility rotation is that I can do more interplanting.  Just say: "OK! This area is all roots!" and then throw in all sorts of different root vegetables, not just one kind.  Or, at least I can try it and see what happens. I've seen it in the Tilth garden plots and have been totally blown away with HOW MUCH FOOD I've harvested from 1 3'x6' bed, how close things were planted together, and how enormous it got.

One more thing, I really need to do a map of garden and map out the sun/shade each season.  I know the south side unfortunately gets shade from the neighbors house, a mangly tree they have, and a fence.  Fine for leaf plants, but I might have to rethink how I do what I do.  I'll do the first one around October 15.  I'm really curious to see how much might be a lost cause in winter gardening.  The sun just stays so low in Seattle.

Still in the middle of new books.  I'm kind of getting a bit overwhelmed with information. I really just need a few good resource books because its' all getting muddled in my head.  I mean, obviously I'm going to be trying out more of the "Tilth" way of doing things for a bit because I've worked their gardens, I've seen what they can do, it is all specific to where I live--and frankly, it is envy-envoking.  I just need to focus on one thing instead of the "more! More! More!" headspace.