Red Knights, Dinosaurs and Oliver

I decided to place an order for seedlings with the organic urban farm. All in all I'll be getting about 66 starter plants for $33.50. That's a good deal if you consider what I get out of them -- lots of enjoyment, plus a freezer full of pesto. The plants have some crazy names. Red Knights are peppers (red ones), Dinosaurs are a type of blue-ish bumpy Kale and Oliver is a Brussel Sprout. I'll also be getting some eggplants (named Nadia) Zucchini (Costata Romanesco) and a variety of tomatoes - Rose de Barnes, Purple Cherokee, Green Zebra, Brandywine, Pineapple, Sweet Olive and a few others.

I have also decided to plant a few things from seed inside and to plant some seeds directly in the garden like I did last year since that seemed to work pretty well. The big development though is that I am going to try to actually PLAN the whole garden before I even start. My plot is not a perfect rectangle but, I went outside and walked the edges to estimate the shape and size. Trapezoid? I think I've got it. Right now, as you can see, my plan is blank.

The next step will be to look up all the plants I've ordered and figure out how much space they need and how tall they'll get. After that I need to think about what to grow from seed and then FLOWERS! I'm excited to think about what kinds of colors I want and when they'll bloom and where to put them.

I can already tell that I'm running out of room though. Some of those 66 plants are going to have to go to friend's gardens. Who needs 6 parsley plants anyway?

Its been unseasonably warm here and I have a feeling that's not good. I'm not sure about this but I get the sense that "typical" is always best for gardening. Too much or too little of something (rain, heat, etc.) seems to benefit the garden bad guys that I learned about like fungus and bacteria. We shall see. I'll be out of town for the next two weeks but, I should be able to keep up with the planning.