The Farm Report

Culinary Poppies Hoping for Some Rain Today

At Robin & Bruce’s House

Along with honoring veterans, participating in parades, and barbecuing, for many of us Memorial Day weekend means cleaning up the yard and doing some work in the garden. When I lived in New England, this was the weekend that I’d finally get to the planting, after much planning and soil preparation. In the Santa Cruz mountains, we started planting last month and are now harvesting lettuce and greens. And yet, harvesting a few veggies always seems to lead to planting more when it’s still early in the season. What are you planting this week?

Poppies Draw Honeybees and Bumblebees

First I like to assess what we have, though deciding which other veggies to plant is largely emotional, not practical. This year because we’re in drought mode with water rationing, I’m not planting any flower seeds. I’ve got a few dwarf marigolds going, plus a lot of reseeded California poppies and nigella and reseeded/perennial coreopsis, which honeybees love. I’ll talk about our herbs in a future post.

DIY Square Foot Garden Looking Good

Currently we have stir fry greens mix, ruby and emerald lettuce, stardom mix lettuce, mixed mesclun lettuce, scarlet runner beans, tomatoes: brandywine red, beefsteak, superbush, Juan Flamme, sungold (cherry), Isis candy (cherry), 2 sweet peppers, sunflowers, an artichoke, small-space butternut and delicata squash, Astia bush zucchini, and crookneck squash. The snow peas and provider beans seem to have failed, probably getting overheated on a few scorcher days. The cumin never germinated, probably because we didn’t get the seed from Renee’s Garden, our favorite supplier.

Based upon that, here’s my planting plan:

• Planted today: snow peas (container), provider beans (container), more scarlet runner beans


• To plant next: more delicata squash, crookneck squash, Astia bush zucchini (container)


• To plant maybe: chard (in container, if temps not too hot)


• To plant indoors and nurture: container French lavender, cumin, alpine strawberries

Hopefully, I can get all of this completed in the next couple of weeks, then watch with wonder as seeds sprout, grow, flower, and fruit in abundance. What’s in your garden?

No-water Nigella from Last Year's End of Season Planting