2020 Garden

FEBRUARY :  The crocuses we planted last year started coming up outside, and inside, Pippin and I sat down to plan out our garden. Bloom helped by playing with seed packets as I tried to sort which seeds we had left and which seed packets I had kept because they were worth repeating. I also had charts from last year with lists of what I had planted, when, and whether it worked well or not. A few plants from last year, like my strawberries and honeysuckle, were still alive but dormant. 


MARCH :  Every year I optimistically start seeds inside in February, set them out around March or April... and then the frost kills them. So this year I didn't even start the seeds until March. Pippin and I planted lettuce, morning glories, marigold, rucola (arugula), scarlet runner beans, and sweet peas - all seeds that had done well last year. And they all shot up happily in their little starter buckets within a few weeks. 



By the end of March I dared to put the biggest and sturdiest plants outside, first covered, and then into our stacked planter boxes. I bought a new jasmine plant and a rose arch for the middle of the garden, and built a tipi for the kids and for climbing beans. 





APRIL:  
My muscari - blue grape - bulbs came up, as well as one or two tulips. 


The peas and sweet peas and runner beans shot up and I carefully transplanted them, along with some marigolds. I cleared a new patch for lettuce plants. 










MAY :  The kids helped weed and make space for new plants, like the lavenders and mints I bought at the store. Our old green plastic trellises were starting to break in places, so I found wooden ones and painted them against the weather, then set them up as a sort of garden divider. 



Last year I cleared our grubby old brick patio out to make room for white gravel; easier to weed and maintain, and less old-fashioned by Dutch standards. In May, the Covid-19 lockdown eased and I started driving the 600+ bricks to the reopened dump, by myself, 10 bags of 15+ bricks at a time. 





JUNE :  In June we started reaping the rewards of our work. Rucola and spinach for on my scrambled eggs - Pippin would bring me in nearly an entire plant in his enthusiasm. 


Sugar snap peas 


Handfuls of strawberries 


The new trellises were mostly decorative at first, but once the tomato plants and sweet peas grew high enough they started climbing or hanging with relief. We spent a lot of lunches and dinners out under the yellow parasol, enjoying watching butterflies and bees in our little kingdom.






JULY :  More berries and salads, and flowers everywhere. 




Our sunflowers in deep soil grew higher than my head, while the ones in the planters stayed small and cute. Marigolds and alyssum flowers covered the ground while the scarlet runner beans took over the trellis.





AUGUST :  

SEPTEMBER :  

OCTOBER :  

NOVEMBER :  


DECEMBER :  The jasmine plant put out some new vines and leaves, which surprised me. My new winter heather plants kept blooming. A few of my marigolds kept blooming through the early weeks of our soft winter, until the last six plants finally died and I pulled them out on December 31. On to next year's garden. 



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