Last fall, I posted about a Garden in the making. One that would be at my house, One that would be in my back yard.... I giant square.... That made a very lovely Mud, clay, rock Pit... The dogs were NOT happy with this intrusion of their yard, and I was unsure how we would get anything to grow.
See whole story here: Our Garden Journey
After all, if you recall, I can't even grow a flower that is brought home from School on Mothers day (bad bad Mom) I have been known to kill a Cactus. I am not capable of growing any kind of plant life except a single flower that likes my deck, and a little grass man that NeeNee bought for Veg. Other then that, I'm useless...
But Hubby was determined to get me a garden by this Spring... The kind with real Veggies... Then my friend informs me that not all veggies like each other... Apparently the Veggies aren't all Veggietale like and they can be quite aggressive.... If you plant a Potato next to A cucumber, they start throwing punches, or something like that... So I had know idea how hard this whole thing would be...
Well in the Fall, our land was tilled and barley was grown, and allowed to break up and fold in to the soil... Leaves were pushed in to a pile and a tarp took over our garden to keep it nice and cozy till spring...We were supposed to have Happy Soil by spring.
It is now Spring! The boys were out there tilling and pulling out rocks and tilling and pulling out rocks, and breaking the tiller and pulling out more rocks... For some reason, I really don't think our land is a happy garden place quite yet....
We didn't grow anything inside, we don't have seedlings or saplings or anything of that kind, but I did buy some organic seeds.... Hubby said we don't have to grow them in side first because we are not a "short season" state... HOW DOES HE KNOW? Anyway, he said, "Pick out what you want" and so I did.... Nothing Leafy, I don't want bugs... No Broccoli... don't do little green worms.... Nope I got cool stuff...
Like Pumpkin seeds, so all the kids can come to our Pumpkin Patch in the Fall. I got Watermelon seeds.... What? I like Watermelon... Got some cucumbers, peppers, onions... He said "Get what you want?" I had no direction, no one told me GET THIS? I would have listened... No, he said "GET WHAT YOU WANT" and so I did. Some Zucchini and carrots....and potatoes....
I came home with my organic seed packs and potatoes ready for cutting, all proud of myself...... and he says "You can't plant these? I was thinking a tomato plant or something" But But but... I want a Pumpkin Patch and a Potato Treasure hunt... I want fun stuff,.... not a tomato farm...
He says he planned to divide the big square in to small squares by making lines in the dirt so he new where everything was when it was time to go back out there.... Hello, first rain and the lines are gone? And by the way, do you really think the Cucumber is going to stay where you plant it? I'm thinking no. How is that going to help anything... Well, he said he would put cucumbers in one spot, tomato plants up the center, and I had one more option.... OH NO!!
Do you realize HOW many tomatoes you will end up with if you do an entire row of tomato plants. Hello, we don't even eat tomatoes unless we are chopping one for a pasta dish... what do you plan to do with all those tomatoes...
He replies with, "What do you plan to do with all those Pumpkins?" let the kids come pick pumpkins of course. At least mine is practical.
He said he wanted to start with tomatoes this year, see how they do and maybe do more next year. Seriously, you spent like 10 total hours working the land, and all I get is a Tomato? I DON'T think so!
And we argue... we argue about his tidy little squares, his need for Tomato plants, and all the seeds I purchased that are now going to go to waste.... He claims our Garden isn't big enough for everything I wanted to try.... I'm thinkin' a single tomato plant, bury a few potatoes (away from the cucumbers), stick in a couple onions (away from the carrots), some carrots down the center, throw in a couple pumpkin and watermelon seeds... They are all vines anyway, and will grow out to the center of my yard... The cucumbers will scale the fence like Spider man... and that still leaves, me 1/2 the middle... See I've planned this whole thing out?
Except one thing?? My soil is nothing but clay and rock. the fact that we are ARGUING is cracking me up, because the only thing that garden is going to grow is a speck of dust...
I'll be lucky to end up with two carrots for the bunnies... Oh but the bunnies won't get in our garden because Hubby is going to put his "OWL" out there... Yeah, good luck with that.
The only thing the OWL will scare away is me, when I walk outside at night and it spooks the heck out of me on our deck (its temporary home) But I'm pretty sure the Bunnies will NOT fear the Owl.... He has a plan though... Snakes! Yup, he is sure that rubber snakes will keep the bunnies away. Has he seen Bugs Bunny? I'm thinking they will laugh at the snakes....
And so we have a Tarp free Mud/Dirt/Clay/Rock Square pit, waiting to have seeds planted....
Hubby plans to do this tomorrow.... HELLO!! FREEZE is coming next week...
Stay tuned as our Spring continues in the Vegmom Garden....
You have to check out the book "Square Foot Gardening" I read it two years ago before I planted a garden and was amazed at how much I was able to grow. You plant everything in squares instead of rows. It is amazing.
Posted by: Elizabeth | March 10, 2009 at 12:47 PM
Thank you Elizabeth!!! :-) I'll have to read something soon or my pretty dirt pit will stay a pretty dirt pit. :-)
Posted by: Vegmom | March 10, 2009 at 10:29 PM
I have a copy of the book if you ever want to borrow. I have also seen it at McKay's and pretty cheap on Amazon. The guy who wrote it also has a website. Just do a google search for square foot gardening. I know your garden is already planted now, but the info might come in useful for next time.
Posted by: Elizabeth | March 13, 2009 at 01:24 PM