The Garden Returns!

Great news everyone! My blog will once again be about my garden!

After a gray and drizzly week in Washington, I returned home this weekend to gorgeous sunshine. Yay! The sun really does put a smile on my face.

And it made for perfect gardening conditions…a Sunday without any previous plans. Plus I’d pulled out my giant seed collection a few weeks ago to start thinking about what to grow, so I already had a rough game plan in my head.

The house I’m living in now has a lot of space for gardening, in our driveway and also in the backyard. Mostly I planted stuff in containers, but I did also put a few things in a bed along the back wall of the house. Here’s what I planted:

Tomatoes: Three different kinds, from the seeds I gathered myself several seasons ago. It’s a bit of a gamble to see if they will sprout, partly because they are old and partly because I just planted them directly outside. Usually I start them inside on a sunny windowsill. But I don’t think we have any suitable windows here so I’m taking a chance. Cross you fingers!

Greens: A few types of lettuce, some Swiss chard, watercress, and spring onions. These are in the bed along the back wall and I’m not convinced that they will get enough light, so also kind of a gamble.

Tri-color bush beans: In large containers, in the driveway near the railing of our entryway where I plan to string up something for the beans to climb on eventually.

Strawberries: Got a few starts from the nursery on recommendation from my neighbor. Planted in pots in various locations around the yard to test where they do best.

Jalapeño pepper: Also a start from the nursery. Last year’s jalapeño plant suffered an untimely death so hopefully this one does better.

I have plans for a few more things but ran out of time/energy to get everything done in one go. Mostly I want to plant some herbs (dills, parsley, basil, cilantro) and perhaps some carrots. Oh and maybe a lemon cucumber, I have some seeds for those, too. Luckily this house had a lot of pots kicking around so I still have space for the last few things. I just need to get more dirt!

I also took the time yesterday to do a little maintenance on my succulents. I’ve had these about a year now and I really enjoy them! They make babies like crazy. This is the second time I’ve separated shoots from the parent plants. Fun! Will have to get pictures of those soon. Some of them are looking a little worse for the wear after our wet winter, but hopefully they will start to perk up now that it’s drying up a bit.

And finally, the discovery of the day! I moved a pot that had been sitting in the same place for a long, long time and saw something squirm away underneath it. It flicked really quickly and reminded me more of a snake than a worm. So I crouched down for a closer look, poking gently with a stick at the pile of leaves where I saw it disappear. Sure enough, I found it,  a snake-y looking little thing about 4-5 inches long.

Little snake-thing found in my backyard!

I looked at it really closely but couldn’t figure out what it was. I couldn’t see any legs, so it really looked like a snake. But I’ve never known any snakes who like dark damp places, ie under pots. I saw that it had a little buddy hanging out near it, too. They were both pretty moist looking and had heads that kind of reminded me of salamanders or newts, but I just couldn’t tell. I wondered if there are any salamanders that have a legless phase in their life cycle. I took a picture with my phone to try to figure it out later.

So last night I took a closer look at the pictures on my phone. And guess what, when I zoomed in, I saw tiny, tiny little legs! So they weren’t snakes, but probably salamanders! A quick internet search confirmed that they are California Slender Salamanders. Neat! I had no idea that my little urban backyard had any amphibians. I hope that I didn’t ruin their habitat by moving the pot a few feet…

Zoomed way in to show tiny, tiny front leg!

So all in all it was a lovely first day of gardening. Looking forward to many more.

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