I interrupt my series on ground covers to tell you I spent a little money this week.There were more vendors of Native plants this year, which was a boon to my soul. I was still pretty stingy with my money, by-passing a lot of plants I would love to add to the yard.
My husband had no such restraint. He found tomato varieties he likes to grow, dill, and I-don’t-know what else for the vegetable garden (his domain). He’s the chef. My contribution was to purchase some garbanzo seeds from a small seed company out of Portland. We’ve never grown garbanzos but Don makes a killer hummus and it just seemed logical to buy some seeds to grow our own. Caveat: they will probably not get planted until the fall. We’ll have garbanzos next year.
You can see our little wagon filled up pretty quickly between Don’s plants, my plants, and our good friend’s plants. Next year, that good friend may have to bring his own little red wagon!
The haul from Saturday was pretty impressive, but Sunday was looming with the first Farmer’s Market of the season in Milwaukie, Oregon. My husband wanted to buy some lamb from our favorite lamb rancher (SuDan Farms) and I hoped the herb people would be there with some plants…
Two more tomato plants and three herb plants later, we stopped for a beer before heading home and toasted our plant haul of the weekend.
Yesterday and today were spent putting all my purchases into the ground, along with some annuals I grabbed at the local grocers (locally grown plants from a small nursery in town).
I got: Beebalm (I had two last year, but they failed to resurface this spring. This year, new location with more sun), a primrose (Oenothera berlandieri ‘Siskiyou’), Moss rockfoil (Saxifraga ardensii ‘ MartoTM Rose’), chamomile, Holy basil, and a French tarragon. Don bought 3 peppers (jalapeno, serrano, and a poblano), 2 dill, 2 cilantro, 1 tomatillo, and 4 tomatoes (Bobcat, Genovese, and two San Marzanos). He also threw in a small ground cover: Corsican mint which I planted by the deck.
I added five seed packets to my purchase from Rhythm Seed Farm: sunflower (Helianthus annuus), Miner’s lettuce for fall planting, chickpea (Myles) for fall planting, Meadow arnica (Arnica chamissonis), and Rocky Mountain bee plant (Cleome serrulate). The last two are in the freezer for stratification right now.
Oh, lest I forget: I bought pansies and petunias for annual color. I always have petunias. And now we wait to see how they all grow.
Jaci Dawn 