With settling down and buying a house, I now feel the need to put down roots- literally. After being active duty Navy for 8 years it’s a good feeing to know I’ll be around this patch of dirt for years to come! Most (ahem, all) my gardening experience has been with pots of succulents started in San Diego and lovingly moved to Florida and now Nebraska. I won’t count the random potted herb that only lives until I decide to make bruschetta or salsa…
Can I contain my excitement after many years I’ve looked forward to this? NO! That’s the main reason I started up this blog again! Hopefully it helps you out as much as me to track the progress and decisions I’m making, and I’m sure the many missteps to come. It’s all about learning, right? And if it’s delicious and smells nice and gets me and my family outside eating homegrown organic food and learning about butterflies, even better.
A friend once said I “go nuclear” when learning something new. Guilty as charged. Here’s my butterfly & veggie garden plan (36 ft x 36 ft border):
Perhaps a bit large? Too much? Ha! Not if you ask me so I will forge ahead! Where to start blogging about it though- well I’m a planner. As you can see. I’ve used multiple online sites to help me come up with the above plans.
Butterfly garden: I worked off the plant list from the Nebraska Pollinator Habitat Certification site so that they’re all native and extension-approved. They suggest tons of plants but I plan on doing:
- Blue False Indigo
- Glory-of-the-snow
- Yucca
- Pasqueflower
- New Jersey Tea
- Buffalo flower
- Red Milkweed
- Butterfly milkweed
- Purple coneflower
- Gayfeather- Kobold
- Wild bergamot
- Bee balm
- Lemon balm
- Evening Primrose
- Anise Hyssop
- New England Aster
- Spotted Joe Pye
- Black Eyed Susan
- Sedum (4 kinds)
- Russian Sage
- Ironweed
- Goldenrod
Vegetable Garden: This will be in a raised garden bed (more on that later). I’m planting more heirloom varieties, things I can’t find at our local grocery store plus herbs we use frequently in our cooking. The planner I’m using is GrowVeg and I bought seeds from the Baker Creek Seed Catalog.
On the sides of each bed I have companion beneficial flowers to assist in pollination and harboring good insects. About 50-75% of these I’ve already started in newspaper seedling pots and will post about my germination station soon!
Arugula, Basil, Borage, Calendula, Carrot, Celery, Chamomile, Poblano pepper, Serrano Pepper, Zavory Habanero pepper, Chives, Cilantro, Persian and english hothouse cucumber, Dill, Edamame, Fennel, Ginger, Little Gem Lettuce, Butter King lettuce, Dandelion, Walla Walla onion, white onion, Red Burgundy onion, Chervil, Hamburg rooted parsley, Anaheim pepper, Shishito pepper, Potatoes (fingerling maybe), Kabocha pumpkin, summer squash, rosemary, sorrel, tansy, thyme, Tomatillo, Tomatoes: Black, Orange, Green, Yellow, Purple, Zinnia.
We’ve also started breaking ground on the backyard, here’s a preview for a future blog!
The Inspired Dr.Mom 