Dana's Garden

Wow, it’s been a crazy week full of extracurriculars, cleaning up the house, and a visit from the parents.  Thus my reason for not writing so much.

But, I’m here now, and I have some catching up to do as far as writing and as far as working.  Here’s a summary:

• Not a lot of actual work in the garden since I got back from San Diego last weekend, per the items mentioned above.
• Brought over plenty of water in the old milk jugs and dumped them in the rain barrel, so we have a nice stockpile of water now.  I probably take about 8 gallons each time I go out, but only use about 2 to actual water the little that’s out there so far.
• Brought over some kitchen scraps from the house for the compost pile.  Ummmm, don’t ever wait 2+ weeks to empty that thing out (remember I’m using a big metal coffee can with a plastic lid).  It does the job great, but it’s pretty stinky.  I think you’re only supposed to dump it out every few days.
• Soil at the garden is incredibly dry-clay-rocky right now.  *Sigh* That’s the awful thing about clay.  When it’s wet, it’s way too wet.  When it’s dry, it’s way too dry.  So I bought 4 big bags of garden soil to spread out and mix in with the clay.  I also walked over to the community compost pile (a great source for composted leaves) and got a big bag full.  I hoed just a little patch last night and mixed in some garden soil and leaves to see what it’ll do.   That is the plan for the rest of the week, in the evenings when I can get out there – to do that to the rest of the plot, let it sit a week or two and then plant some things out there.
• Carrots are finally coming up in the raised bed, although not many.  I don’t think they’ve gotten enough water, with me being so busy and the weather being so dry lately.  Zucchini’s doing great.  Planted another row of seeds for those and the carrots.  Spinach coming up as well.  Radishes actually doing decently in the clay, I think there are 5 of those coming up.  Corn and sunflowers are MIA, as expected.  They just need better soil.
• At home, seedlings doing great in the greenhouse.  Just moved the first bunch I planted outside to the deck, so they can get used to the weather before I plant them in the ground (and those were tomatoes, bell peppers, lettuce and broccoli).  Inside, have more of the same shooting up, as well as eggplant and jalepenos.
• Inside, just planted basil, cilantro, dill, and some more lettuce.
• Took my parents over to the garden.  Was pretty uneventful as expected, since there’s not a lot there, but I think they were happy to see it anyway.  Also as expected, “Hey, you have clay just like we do!”
• Met my next-door garden neighbor, Steve.  He is a cool guy.  His plot is looking great now that he tilled the whole thing up.  He told me of his success with tomatoes last year but said that a fungus got a hold of a lot of his plants. Hopefully that doesn’t happen to me!  He also said he was putting up a new fence around his plot, so at least I’ll have one new wall of fencing.  Hooray!

Well, that’s about it for now.  I’ll try to write a little more, but last week was just too crazy.  Maybe this week will be a little nicer to me.

Until next time,
Dana