Monday, May 25, 2009

the garden!

I'm so excited, because this is the year we finally planted a nice garden!


We've kicked around the idea of having a vegetable/herb garden for the nine years we've been living in this house, and we've tried it before in a half-hearted ways, but this year? This year we've done it right.

No thanks to me - my original plan was for the boys and I to dig up a patch of grass, add compost, and plant there. 

J had other ideas, ideas that involved power tools. "You'll never be able to dig up a good-size patch by hand," he said. "This neighborhood has a lot of rabbits that will eat everything if we don't fence it," he said. "You don't have enough compost for that," he said.

So, a rented roto-tiller, some lumber, a couple of power saws, and lots of bags of soil and manure later, we have this:


When our neighbor saw it, she said, "Damn - when he builds a garden, he really builds a garden." I could not have said it any better.

We went with a combination of vegetables, herbs, and flowers, including squash, chili peppers, tomatoes (in the Topsy-Turvy!), basil, oregano, cilantro, parsley, daisies, and marigolds. And how much of that was from the seeds we planted? Not much. Most of the seeds came up, but a lot of things keeled over and died before we could get them in the ground. I think next year I'll actually do some sort of research before I get started and have some sort of greenhouse set up. The  bell peppers were okay, though:

And I also planted some sunflower and carrot seeds, because I couldn't find those as plants and I wanted them. I'm pretty sure the sunflowers will be fine; less sure about the carrots. 

Anyway, here's hoping for a busy and productive summer in the garden. And many, many kudos and thanks to my awesome husband!