Here we go again...The Garden 2013

The garden is back!  I was going to say "in da house" but that would be kinda stupid so TA DA!!  Yesterday, Kornell (for those of you who don't know, he's my guy and the reason I have such a beautiful vegetable patch) and I went out to see the Tomato Man's Daughter and I absolutely controlled myself...only bought 8 plants compared to last year's attempt at 14!  Aren't you proud of me?  Lisa (the daughter) is super knowledgeable and can recommend the right plant for the right purpose so I am really excited.  Combine that with the amount of love she showers over these beauties and it's a no-fail situation.  That is, if I can keep the dang critters out of the beds!  I included one picture where you can see the footprints or digging or free-for-all that somebody was having last night after we finished putting everything into the ground.  ARGHHH!!
We discussed the critter issue with Lisa and she said the only way to get rid of the squirrels was a shotgun.  If I see another one running across the top of my fence holding onto one of my beauties...I may be inclined to pull out the firepower!  Anyway, we're going to think positive.  The tomato variety is mostly heirloom with tried and true Oklahoma standbys like the Arkansas Traveler (had to have one of those in honor of my granddad).  So I've got one cherry variety along with a black, green and yellow pinkheart.  She also had an Italian frying pepper that I cannot wait to try!  As you can see in the first pic, I started a fair number of seeds inside.  Those included Brussels sprouts, tomatillos, jalapenos, eggplant, cauliflower and red bells.  Put sugar snap peas into the ground along with pie pumpkins (that's in case Reasor's doesn't have any for Thanksgiving!  Then take a look at my last picture...those are last year's herb holdovers.

 You've got to love that sage!  Can you believe it?!  Talk about beleaguered during last summer!  I held out no hope of seeing anything like that but sage is a hardy perennial obviously...standing in good stead next to it is last year's rosemary.  I really cut it back a lot at the end of last summer so I'm anticipating that it will go ca-razy this year.  And, I was reminded that it does help to water it.

I do have some tarragon, thyme and chives started from seed...we'll see what those will do.  So tales from the vegetable garden begin this weekend.  look for blog updates weekly interspersed with as much wit and wisdom as I can muster in between.  Next week, I'll give you the rundown on Thursday's Blank Canvas competition.  Think happy thoughts...I really want to win!!