Dana's Garden

Kurt and I went out to the garden yesterday evening to dig up some new rows.  Man, was the dirt rock solid.  Seriously, we broke two garden tools (the hoe and the fork) trying to get through it.  Luckily, brought six with us.    At one point, though, I felt myself starting to cave.

“You think we should cave and rent a tiller?” I asked Kurt.

“No.  This really isn’t taking that long to do.  Plus, I like the idea of us doing it ourselves and not using things like that, and I want to stick to that.”  Ahhhh, he’s great.    If he can relate to my stubborn idea of not wanting to use power tools, oil/gas, etc. then he’s a good man.

We managed to get through with the shovel and then used the cultivator to mix in some garden soil (from store) and some really nice leafy compost from the community compost pile.  That should help treat the soil a bit, and keep the moisture in when we have the rain coming in this week (which will last for several days, so not sure how much work we’ll get done for awhile).  Despite the rain, it’ll be good to let the soil sit for a week or two anyway, before planting any other seeds.

We dug up four new rows.  One of them was where we had planted the corn.  But no worries.  We’d only planted two seeds, so no loss really.  The back two rows will be for corn only (two rows so that they can cross-pollinate, as we’ve heard a few friends tell us).  The other two rows will be home to our tomatoes, bell peppers, and maybe peas and green beans.

I need to play with the layout a bit.  We now officially have half the garden ready for use, but that leaves this whole other empty half that’s still just a lot of dried-up clay and weeds.  I already know that a big chunk of that will be dedicated to our pumpkin patch, which we’ll sow the seeds for in July.  The rest is up in the air – of course, we have TONS of seeds to plant, but just not sure exactly where to put them all yet!  Eggplants and broccoli need a home for sure, so we’ll need a couple rows for that.  Swiss chard can pretty much go anywhere since it grows in even the most craptastic soil.  I had intended on doing strawberries, but I’m nixing the idea.  Plants are $9 each!  Not worth the money!  I like being able to buy veggie seeds for $2/pack.   I’ll just get my strawberries from the farmers’ market, or Chiles pick-your-own.

We’ll be moving some items to the garden as well!  Nice to have the great outdoor “rental” space.  Now I don’t intend to make my plot look like Sanford & Son, just putting out some lawn chairs that I have on the deck right now that I don’t want to get rid of when I move to the smaller apartment next month.  Oh, and the chiminea.  And a bunch of plant pots.  Birdhouse.  Statues.  Etc.  Don’t judge me!  I just don’t want to give up these things when I give up my deck.  Plus, why not decorate the plot?  Make it look a little more interesting.  Don’t worry, I’m falling short of pink flamingos.

So what else is going on?  Plants outside still doing fine.  Actually have some sunflowers coming up!  Didn’t get the pictures, since the sprouts are still really small.  But, here are pics of the zucchini, carrots, and radishes (one of each):

Plants inside still doing fine.  The seedlings I moved outside were starting to get a little wilty today, so I gave them a nice watering and hopefully they’ll spring back.  They’re not dead, just a little droopy.  They could still be OK….right?

Still need to build a little chicken wire fence around my compost pile.  Especially since I’ve started adding food scraps…don’t want to attract the critters.  Although I understand deer are a problem regardless, and we actually saw some pulling out of the garden yesterday.  Saw a beaver the other day too!  (har har har)  He was running out of someone’s plot like he was totally guilty of eating something.  Better stay out of mine, that’s all I’m saying.

Nighty night,

Dana