Well almost April, as it’s March 31st. But it’s basically April, and it’s time for some planting.
But I’m exhausted- so it’s part 1 and tomorrow I’ll finish it up.
First off before I planted anything, hell, before I even went to the garden center, I mulched.
Here’s some mulch around the baby green beans, and there’s also fresh mulch around the baby zucchini and purple peas. Water retention- weed suppression- mulch is good.
Unfortunately I made the executive decision to kill the mystery mole pepper. It’s just a mess. It was falling over and has looked like death for weeks.
RIP pepper plant. I’ll get another pepper (or peppers…) later this year- I have the little lipstick pepper seedlings growing, though those won’t be ready for transplant til May or so.
I really wanted a 6 pack of haricot vert seedlings- that’s what I got last year and they’re great green pole beans, but for whatever reason they did not have them today.
They had… a lot else.
I’ll discuss the gigantic squash plant(s) and tomatoes tomorrow, along with the belle of the ball, a Marion blackberry- but it was also herb time. That’s what I had the energy to plant today- tomorrow is vegetable and fruit time.
Here’s my new chamomile. I’m a confirmed insomniac, so I drink a fair amount of teas and tisanes. Might as well grow my own.
I also got a few new curly leaf parsley, as my current ones seem to be going the way of the dodo. What I love is that the parsley types have such grand names. The type I tried to grow from seed was just “green moss” but the two plants I put in were “green river” and “Aphrodite”.
Aphrodite!
There’s my new “Aphrodite” parsley. You can see the sort of meh plants next door- the “green river is farther to the left.
My final herb was one I’ve always wanted to grow, not for culinary use per se, but because it smells good and can attract bees- and for its long long history.
This beautiful mint is pennyroyal. Pennyroyal is an ancient medical herb that in the days before modern medicine would have been a major part of the herbalists toolkit. It is also somewhat toxic. Not as much as other herbs- if I really wanted to eat some I’d probably be ok- but it can damage the liver. I like it as a sort of botanical momento mori- a reminder of how important some of these herbs were to our ancestors. And it’s flowers attract bees! So more bee food- and a nice smell. That works.
I’ve marked out where the veggies and fruit are going in tomorrow, but I’m so tired so that will be tomorrow’s task.
Soon.
The Neanderthal Gardens 
Although I have seen peppers growing in gardens in coastal San Mateo County and San Bruno, I can not help but wonder how productive they are. I never asked. It seems to me that the climate is too mild there for them to do much more than make a few peppers each. I do not grow them here, but that is another issue. I just do not need enough to justify giving them the space. I suppose I should change that.
I’m waiting on a rocoto pepper which i hear produces well in our environment. Also the peppers i’m growing from seed are lipstick peppers, a small sweet pepper. Those tend to do better here. I hope?
That is the impression I get. I really do not know, just because I have never grown peppers very well. They perform adequately, but not impressively. I know neighbors here have grown hot peppers with decent but not great flavor, but they are never very productive. Jalepenos are an exception, since they seem to be productive and well developed. (Unfortunately, I do not like jalapenos.)