Planting Day

It feels late, but it's been a cold wet spring here and today was the first that all the conditions were right to plant things.

This morning, the pots. Sage. Winter thyme -- I was disappointed in the lack of thymeness flavor in my lemon thyme last year so I asked the guy at Biver Farm what I should plant and he said winter thyme (it smells great!). Apple mint and pepper mint in the galvanized tubs. I'll be treating the sage and thyme as if they were annuals so I planted them in soil-less potting mix. I'm hoping the mints will come back next year in those tubs so I used Fafard 52 Mix. I have it on good authority that the Missouri Botanical Garden uses that for perennials in containers. We get it at Hummert's in Earth City.

This afternoon, the kitchen garden. This is the only bed that existed when we bought the house and it doesn't have the best soil yet. Last year, we planted it in July with Madagascar vinca and mums just to get something in it and have an excuse to work the soil a bit. It was beautiful in October! This year, we're going with annuals again, but edible ones: one zucchini (Spineless Beauty), four eggplants (Fairy Tale, with lavendar and white stripes), and three basil.

What you can't see in the picture is that I also sowed New Zealand spinach seeds. That's not really spinach but is supposed to taste remarkably similar and to grow better in our hot summers.

Also invisible, because I haven't planted them yet, are the seedlings of bell and jalapeno peppers. I'm going to let them get a little bigger and more hardened before planting them, probably around June 1.