We Ordered Plants

We got a lot accomplished this weekend. Along with a quick trip to the Living Museum, and finishing four hundred loads of laundry, we ordered plants. We kept it pretty simple this year. We ordered two replacement apple trees (all three of ours were girdled by voles) from Vintage Virginia Apples. This time around we picked up a Shockley, which is a very tasty apple, and an Albemarle Pippin.

The Albemarle Pippin is a neat apple with a history. According to the Vintage Virgina Apple folks it was introduced to Albemarle County by Col. Thomas Walker who brought the apple back from the battle of Brandywine in 1777. Though the 18th century it was widely grown and was known to be cultivated by both Washington and Jefferson (the second should be no surprise, that dude tried to grow EVERYTHING.) In 1838 Queen Victoria was presented with a basket of the apples and it was such a hit that Parliament waved the duty on importing the variety which made it an important export for us. After World War I Parliament levied duties gain, and the Pippin became less popular. It is still grown commerically, but mostly for cider not as an eating apple.

We also picked up four current bushes (two white and two red), a replacement cherry tree (we lost it’s predecessor to voles as well), more strawberry plants, two yellow raspberry bushes, some wild carrot plants and coreopsis for the butterfly garden, a dwarf pomegranate (we’ve managed to keep the key lime alive, so we’re risking it), and some assorted pretty things to fill in a few holes.

We’ll use up the seed we have on hand for tomatos, peppers, various root veg, herbs, and viney plants and supplement a bit from the nurseries in the spring.

Not the most exciting weekend for most people, but hey! I got the laundry done and I don’t have to worry about the gardens for another whole month!

Plants and Seeds of a Different Sort

Remember when this used to be a gardening blog?  Ok, it was never a full gardening blog, but most of what we talked about was plants.  What we were planting, what we wanted to plant, when we'd plant it, how and where we planted it.  We talked about our grand planting plans for the future...  Then we had Zane.  And now we're considering paving over the backyard so we wouldn't have to mow the Creeping Charlie every other week.

Zane is the sunshine in our lives, the source of genuine laughter every day, a person full of surprises and wonder, and the giant vortex into which all our time is sucked.  Seriously, ALL our time.  We're getting ready to leave the house, all we have to do is put on our coats.  An hour and a half later we're sitting in the car and I'm wondering how in the heck it takes AN HOUR AND A HALF for three people to put on coats. AN HOUR AND A HALF.

We did plant stuff last year, it didn't do well under the extreme neglect we provided for it.  It was Plant Thunderdome in the raised beds.  Plants vs. Weeds.  Two plants enter, one plant leaves- and spreads it's horrible self all over the rest of the property.  (I'll give you two guesses which won, and the first doesn't count. Hint: it wasn't Mad Max.)  To heighten the excitement we refused to water anything.  By the end of the summer our house looked like the Adams Family had taken residence. 

This year it will be different.  Maybe.  Possibly.  We're hoping to put in irrigation to help with the watering, but, ummm, we planted a seed of a different sort.  Sometime around July 4 we're having another kid.

The gardens are totally screwed.