prairie point

starting the vegetable garden

Another sunny afternoon today. We worked in three inches of compost in the vegetable garden. Then Tricia planted potatoes and onions and I set out seed for lettuce. I suspect we spend more money on this garden than we would spend on buying the vegetables in the store. If we counted our labor cost I am sure that would be true. We like the idea of being self-sustaining but there is no way we will ever come anywhere close to that ideal. We do it partly because we think the vegetables we grow ourselves taste better than the ones in the store and because we know exactly how they have been grown. We do it partly just because we come from families who always had gardens. I don't know if it makes sense but it is satisfying.

I have a small flower bed near the front walk that I would like to make some changes to. Last year I put some salvia greggii in the back which have a color called "pink flamingo" along with with a red hibiscus. Along the front are blue trailing phlox and candytuft and there are daylillies of several colors interspersed. In the middle of this bed is a large zexmenia. It does well there but it is too tall for the salvias that I planted behind it. I have another location in mind for the zexmenia but I can't decide what to replace it with. The area is in full sun around the middle of the day but is shaded morning and late afternoon.