The Lists

This fall I will have been four years at the “new” house and garden. My two biggest garden goals were edibles and Northwest natives. So today I made a list of what is planted so far…

Food perennials
5 blueberry bushes
semidwarf peach tree
3 minidwarf apples
self fertile kiwi
raspberries—golden and red
3 artichoke plants
hop vine
strawberries
French sorrel
garlic chives
shallots
parsley (ok—it isn’t really perennial, but it’s always there)
(no sage because I rarely use it)
rosemary
and thyme


Self-seeding all over the place
Corn salad
Arugula
Kale

Northwest natives
inside-out flower (Vancouveria)
shooting star (Dodecatheon)
wild ginger (Asarum caudatum)
Red osier dogwood
Bunchberry
Trilliums
Blue eyed and yellow-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium)
Sword fern
Deer fern
False Solomon seal
False lily of the valley
Goat’s beard (?) (Aruncus Sylvester) It hasn’t resprouted yet, so I’m not sure; it’s a woodland plant but my shady spot under the neighbor’s Magnolia may be too dry for it)
Flowering current
Native honeysuckle
Native sedums
Vine maple
Bleeding heart (Dicentra)
Monkshood (Aconitum)
Fireweed—I didn’t plant this, but it has showed up. We’ll see if we can co-exist peaceably
Darlingtonia (carnivorous!)
Sundew (also carnivorous; it’s not back up yet and I don’t know if it made it)
Fringecup (Tellima grandiflora)
Marsh marigolds
Beach strawberry (fragaria chiloensis)

It seems like a lot when I look at it written out, especially considering the number of empty patches still showing on a smallish lot. I have to keep reminding myself that a lot of this stuff will get a whole lot bigger if I can keep it happy.

Snow melted; peas and potatoes in

Probably this is pushing it, but I couldn't help myself.
Russian banana fingerling potatoes are snuggled in among the bulbs, and the first round of sugarsnaps are planted in the alley bed.

On the flower front, the Hellebore in the front yard has big dramatic white blooms, the first crocuses and snowdrops are in bloom, and the daffodils are breaking ground.

Seeds in the Ground!

...not only in the ground, but the first little arugulas (arugulae?) are up. Probably you could plant them on a block of ice and and they would still sprout in a week.

It worked last year, so this year again I planted spinach, arugula and lettuce as soon as the February sun broke through. It's been freezing pretty much every night since, but they don't seem to care. Today I upped the ante and planted some garlic, shallots, and leeks (cloves, clove, seed). I'm hoping that the sandy, mostly storebought soil in my alley planter will give me the garlic success I've always aspired to and never achieved. The box is bristling with pointy sticks to counter the alley cats' natural assumption that I have created this fabulous giant litterbox for their personal convenience. It looks like a bed of nails.

I'm still taking inventory of winter damage. Most of the perennials seem to be battered but not dead, though I probably lost a little box honeysuckle I was hoping would provide some winter green outside the living room window. Maybe it will revive. Raspberries and artichokes look fine