Shoots of Hope

Why am I nervous about my first post to the Garden blog? Perhaps because the quality of the gardening and photography has been set so high by the well established posters. Or perhaps the Shitty Basil is just looking at me funny...

Mills Manor is blessed with a beautiful outdoor space, surrounded by mature landscape, planted many decades ago when this Stucco clad building was first constructed. Combined with our northwest ground floor orientation, I was quite concerned about the amount of sunlight that might reach my new veggies.

Layering of soil and compost

I decided on some hearty, shade friendly species: Swiss Chard (Silverado & Pink Flamingo), Scallions, Bush Beans and herbs.

On May 1, the Scallions and Swiss Chard were deposited into planters with soil from a local nursery and compost from our food scraps.

Meager beginnings

After two weeks, shoots of hope have emerged!

Leggy Pink Flamingos all in a row

Scallions push past eggshell trap doors

So far the dainty sounding Pink Flamingo is proving it is far superior in growing capacity than the rock-like performance of the heavy Silverado.

Stay tuned for Bush Bean planting in the next post...