Out in the Garden

Our Garden is like Major League Baseball!

Today is the first official day of Spring! Professional Baseball's Spring Training is already in full swing, and it's opening day is only 11 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 NatureHouse Gardeners Baseball team!

But wait, I now write in another blog with the rest of my family called "Little House and the Big Garden". There I am known as "Pa". In honor of this new blog, maybe the team should be called the LittleHouse Gardeners. I haven't been blogging much on either one lately, but I have been planning my garden on paper. So now I have plans for a new field and a list of teams and rosters.

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. In subsequent posts, I will explain each "team" in more detail. Are you ready? Its a long lineup. Here goes:

Introducing the NatureHouse 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 LittleHouse 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 NatureHousers:

Give it up for the new Naturehouse 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 Naturehouse 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 the LittleHouse Annual Flowers:

These will be managed mainly by my daughters, so this roster is subject to change or be added to 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 NatureHouse / LittleHouse 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!