Ready, Set, Garden!

The peas I planted a couple of weeks ago are now about 3 inches high, and I'll be working with them to make sure they fasten to the fence and not to each other as they grow.  I added some pansies for color in the bed, and will be starting the squashes for that bed today or tomorrow night.  

My rhubarb crown has sprouted, and the strawberries are happily putting forth new leaves, so I'm a happy camper.  Now that we've got the raised beds finished and are filling them, I can start more of my garden (yay)!

Seedling time!  I loaded up the cart at the Mountain View Summer Winds (pricier than OSH but usually with more of an heirloom selection).  Above are, from the top left, lemon basil, Early Girl tomato, marjoram, Biergarten sage, fernleaf dill, thyme, sweet basil, and two Florence fennels.

Above in this picture are large-leaf basil, Ping Tung Long eggplant, marigolds, curly parsley, and another large-leaf basil.   So I've got most of my herb bed-- missing savory and lemon and lime thymes, and maybe a golden sage if it looks like I have room.  Oh, and "Greek oregano", really Dittany of Crete, a lovely fuzzy plant that tastes like a cross between oregano and sage.  I find that I use marjoram, which is sweeter, where most folks use Italian oregano.   So I don't think I'll be adding oregano to my herb bed.  Here's the herb bed planted out so far:

Next we moved on to the medium 4x8 bed, which will hold tomatoes this year.  I placed the cages just to give the bed some structure and reassure myself that my planting plan will work:

Yep, there's lots of room around the cages for my basil, fennel, carrots, scallions, etc.  I planted out the left side with my Early Girl, my basils, and my fennel.

Then I planted out the right side with my remaining basil.  Today I'll put up the poles and plant my pole beans in the top right corner.   You can see that I need to pick up a couple more large-leaf basil to fill in the gap, or maybe I'll just plant a few carrots there.

This is the most exciting time of the garden year for me-- for some reason this is even more fun than harvesting.  It reminds me of being a little kid and building cities in the mud puddles.  I love laying out the garden plan and planting!

Next week is my birthday, and Mike has been asking "what do you want for your birthday?".  I think I may have found the answer at Summer Winds-- check out the gorgeous metal garden decoration and glass birdbath.  Either of those would make me very happy!  I hope they're still there when we go back today!