bell pepper capsicum annuum

This weekend I had two full days to really focus on the yard, and I made the most of it. With the intermittent help of several others over the course of the weekend, I got both easement planter boxes filled with compost and soil, cleaned up and weeded the alley, got the stump pulled from the conifer thing we took out last year, finished leveling the railroad ties for the terraced area of the yard, and got most of the front yard backfilled.

Tina's grabbing another load of compost on Tuesday, so we should be able to get the third planter bed in the alley filled before the last frost date. I still have to clean up and mow the backyard, get and spread wood chips, and figure out what we're planting in the front yard, but it's really starting to come together. It's hard to believe that this time last year, I didn't feel like I had a clue what I was doing growing plants, and our yard was ugly as all get out. Now we have a retaining wall and terrace and three planter boxes we built ourselves. I'm making a big effort to grow a significant amount of vegetables this year.

Last year, really the only food crops I grew were some tomatoes and broccoli. This year, we've already have lettuce, arugula, mustard greens, sunflower, dill, red onion and beet in the ground, and tomato, fenugreek, bell pepper, okra, artichoke, pot marigold, mint, lavender, spinach, basil, thyme, and parsley sprouting for when it gets a bit warmer. That's not taking into account the summer squash, zucchini, and peas we have waiting to plant directly in the bed once we're past final frost date.

In addition to the edibles, we got a black cherry fuschia and a (I think?) night owl climbing rose. I also repotted the ficus and one of the tropical plants Rachel gave me last year that I've forgotten the name of. Oh, and I finally planted some of the spaces in the retaining wall! I put in some rockfoil, creeping red thyme, sedum, and Scottish moss. The Scottish moss looks especially nice, with it's bright lime green against the red lava rocks. I really hope they take and start to fill in this season!

Whew! Writing it all down, this was quite the weekend! I'm so glad I got a chance to do this! I'll have to take some pictures in the next few days to really capture where it is now.

I've got seeds either on-hand or ordered for just about everything I'm starting from seed this year. I've been working out what I want to plant, and this is the plan I've come up with for the 72 square feet of my backyard raised beds:

Key:

• 00: arugula
• 01: basil (sweet)
• 02: beet (Detroit dark red)
• 03: cabbage
• 04: cauliflower (Early snowball)
• 05: cucumber (pickling)
• 06: eggplant (black beauty)
• 07: eggplant (long purple)
• 08: garlic
• 09: kale (vates)
• 10: lettuce (buttercrunch)
• 11: onion (evergreen bunching)
• 12: oregano
• 13: parsley
• 14: hungarian wax pepper
• 15: bell pepper
• 16: Mesclun salad blend
• 17: zucchini
• 18: yellow summer squash
• 19: butternut squash
• 20: sweet potato
• 21: tomato (Opalka)
• 22: super sweet 100 tomato

Beets are fast enough (only 2 months) that I figure I can safely interplant them with the squashes.

I also picked up some chamomile seeds yesterday. I like chamomile tea, and it'll help attract pollinators. I have what I intend to be a food forest further back in my yard, past the raised beds, and I think it can go in there, around the berry bushes I intend to plant this spring.

We have an over-abundance of 20cm/8" and 25cm/10" pots. I'd normally grow peppers (mostly small ones like jalapeño pepper, not huge bell pepper) in 10" pots and tomato in 12" pots. I'm wondering whether maybe I can get away with 8" pots for the peppers, move some of the tomatoes down into 10" pots, and have more of the larger ones (12" and above) available for other things.

What do you think? What's the smallest viable container? Any tips for growing these plants in small pots?