Friday, March 16, 2007

My Garden and Major League Baseball

Spring is officially only five days away! Professional Baseball's Spring Training is already in full swing, and it's opening day is only 16 days away!

I am a bigger football fan than baseball fan, but what says spring and summer better than Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie and Gardening?!

During the NFL playoffs, I compared my gardening to the NFL, so I thought I should switch sports now to officially welcome Spring.

Introducing The GardenDesk Growers Baseball team!

I took a break from blogging this week to celebrate my daughters' birthdays and to plan my garden on paper. So now I have plans for a new field, a list of teams and rosters for the Gardendesk Growers.

I organized what is going into the vegetable garden under these categories (teams): Tomatoes, Cool Season, Main Season, Fruit, Decorations, and Annual Flowers.

The rosters of each team can get quite lengthy and some need a bit of explanation. For today's post, I will simply list them all. Tomorrow and in subsequent posts, I will explain each "team" in more detail. Are you ready? Its a long lineup. Here goes:

Introducing the GardenDesk Tomatoes:

  • Early Girl
  • Kelloggs Breakfast
  • Prudens Purple
  • Brandywine
  • Aunt Ruby's German Green
  • Dixie Golden Giant
  • Black from Tula
  • Cherokee Purple
  • Big Rainbow
  • Park's Whopper
  • Burpee SuperSteak
  • Burpee Big Boy
  • Gardener's Delight
  • Cluster Grande
  • Golden Girl
  • Sun Sugar
  • Sweet Million
  • La Rossa
  • Roma
  • Principle Borghese
  • Introducing the GardenDesk Cool Season Players:

  • Broccoli-Green Goliath
  • Head Lettuce-Sumertime, Tom Thumb
  • Leaf Lettuce-Buttercrunch, Simpson Elite, Pinetree Lettuce Mix
  • Spinich-Space, Melody, Bloomsdale Long Standing
  • Peas-Mr. Big, and a player to be named later
  • Snap Peas-Super Sugar Snap
  • Onions-Super Star, Alisa Craig, Yellow Spanish
  • Carrots-Short 'n Sweet, Nantes Half Long, Little Finger
  • Radish-Cherry Belle, Easter Egg
  • Beet-Detroit Dark Red
  • And now for your Main Season GardenDeskers:

  • Corn-Mirai 301BC
  • Bush Green Beans-Tender Pick, Blue Lake Bush 274
  • Pole Beans-Kentucky Wonder
  • Cucumber-Park's Whopper, Straight 8, Burpee Bush
  • Sweet Pepper-Pepper Marbles
  • Bell Pepper-Colossal Hybrid
  • Squash-Vegetable Spaghetti
  • Zucchini-Ambassador
  • Okra-Annie Oakley II
  • Potato-Kennebec, Russet Burbank
  • Horseradish-Common Strain
  • Give it up for the new GardenDesk Fruit Varieties:

  • Watermelon-Sugar Baby, Glory Sugar
  • Cantalope-Ambrosia
  • Strawberries-Cavendish
  • Blueberries-Jersey
  • Maybe a Cherry Tree?

  • These newcomers will join our existing Apple, Peach and Pear trees.

    Next up, the GardenDesk Decoration Dudes:

  • Pumpkin-Howden, Jack Be Little, Lumina, Dills Atlantic Giant
  • Gourds-Bird House Mix, Penguin, Assorted Gourd Mix
  • And last but not least, introducing our Annual Flowers:

    These will be managed mainly by my daughters, so this roster is subject to change without notice.

  • Nasturtium
  • Sweet Pea
  • Morning Glory-Milky Way
  • Cosmos-Seashells
  • Zinnia-Cut & Come Again
  • Four O'clocks-Kaleidoscope
  • Convolvulus-Blue Enchantment
  • Impatiens-Dwarf Pink Baby
  • Marigold-Sugar & Spice, Happy Days, Double Dwarf, Dwarf Bolero
  • Sunflower-Mammoth
  • And there you have it ... The comprehensive list of players for GardenDesk 2007! Their playing fields have been drawn up on paper and construction will soon begin. Several players have begun warming up inside under grow lights. Many more will soon join them. Stay tuned for more updates on the pending season and players! Will all players actually get in the game? Will they all hit a homerun, or will some strike out? Many questions will soon be answered.

    What does your "player list" consist of? What vegetables will you be growing that I have left off my list? Are you as anxious to get started as I am?

    Dum dum da dum da dum .... CHARGE!

    5 comments:

    Christa

    I see you have horseradish on your list. Have you tried growing it before? I want to grow some, but I've heard it's very invasive. Curious to know what your experience has been with it.

    Marc

    I have not grown horseradish before and I am mainly growing it to help keep Blister Beetles away. I wrote about it in a previous post.

    It is a perennial and I have heard that it can be considered invasive because it spreads like most perennials do. I assume you could dig up the new ones like when you divide other perennials. I will be putting it in some of my small "square foot gardening" stlye raised beds with my heirloom tomatoes. If it does get out of control It will only take over two or three 4x4 foot beds. If it really does repel Blister Beetles, it will be worth it. And as a bonus, I can make some fresh cocktail sauce!

    Gotta Garden

    Too funny! I like your team logo! I think those in spring training have an advantage, at this point...but it could quickly be overcome by the strength of those on the benches (Okay, I'll stop...lol...not nearly as good as you!)

    What, no Sungold tomatoes??!

    How wonderful that your daughters are going to be involved!

    Marc

    Sungold huh? I assume that is a yellow tomato? I've never tried that one. I have Golden Girl, Dixie Golden Giant, and Sun Sugar (cherry) to represent the yellow varieties. Maybe I should try Sungold!

    Sometimes I think there are just too many different kinds of tomatoes! I wish I could grow all of them :)

    Anonymous

    How did it go with the "blue enchantment" flowers? Being they are a type of morning glory I have never attempted them for fear they would be invasive.

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