The Big Garden - A Finish

I started my day at the Lane County Farmer's Market. I realized that I hadn't been there since Memorial Day Weekend. I arrived without any change. I decided if a free spot was open than I was meant to stay. If they were all full I would head home. The fates were on my side. I got stopped at a red light right before the free parking blocks begin. As I waited the car closest to me on that block backed up and pulled away! So very much has changed at the Market in the last five weeks. The early tomatoes are now for sale as well as the first peppers. But I stopped in my tracks when I saw this pile of corn. Only two stands had corn, and this one had much more than the other. It was a sweet bi-color and the Farmer promised that it would be delicious. I picked up two ears and headed home. We had them for dinner and I can report that he wasn't lying. It was a taste of Summer in every mouthful!

After returning from the Farmer's Market, I headed down to the big garden. While all of my dahlias are now in the ground, I still hadn't planted any annual cut flowers. So I laid out six rows. Two I planted with Zinnia "Persian Carpet". I have grown this variety for many years and just love it. Then, since the deer have wreaked havoc on my first two attempts at sunflowers up at the house, I planted three rows of the sunflower "Bright Bandolier".

For my last row I brought down the first tray that I seeded back in May. These poor marigolds have been stuck in six packs for much too long.

By this time they should be nice, stocky 4" plants. Instead they are still 1" starts, but they are alive. So, I figured nothing ventured, nothing gained. Into a row they went. If they thrive terrific, if not that's alright. I ended up with 9 little "Frances' Choice" and 12 small "Red Metamorph" in the row. To finish up the garden I thought it would be fun to plant a few decorative pumpkins. The garden doesn't get enough sun anymore to grow the big pumpkin but I think the little ones might do alright. So I made two hills and planted two seeds in each hill of the pumpkin "Mini Jack". Now the garden is complete!