Gardening

Have I ever mentioned how awesome my brother, Travis, is? First, he gave me the greatest Christmas present of ever (which I still need to blog about. Sorry, Trav.), second, he traveled the Holy Land with me for a month, third, he moved less than a mile away from me because he loves me (I'm sure that's the reason), and fourth, he let me commandeer his garden at his new house. We made a deal, I give him free labor and he gives me free food. We're both ok with this deal.

Here's what the space looked like initially. Lots of weeds (some with horrible pricklies on them), a giant burned spot in the middle, and...

… cigarette butts. Lots and lots of them. The guys that rented the house before Trav were heavy drinkers and smokers. We're guessing they weren't allowed to smoke in the house, so they chose the garden to be their ash tray. Ick.

After a lot of weed-pulling (me and Trav), tilling (Casey, Trav's roommate), and mulching (Trav), the fun part began. And Trav left for the weekend and BJ was busy working on a second job. So it was all me. First I fertilized, then I started staking out the garden. We're doing square foot gardening, so I first marked out the paths and the six 4'x4' plots.

Then I marked each of the individual square feet. I realized after I'd already cut all the string that I should have done the individual squares in a different color. Alas. I stuck stakes in the intersections of the paths to clue me in to where I could walk. (Trav is gonna get some vinyl and such to lay down in the paths for us to walk on.)

Then the planting! Wahoo! That's the best part. There is a lot in there, let me tell you. It's not quite finished, but it's mostly there. (The onion sets I got were way root bound, so I couldn't separate them to plant them, so I think I'm gonna go get bulbs instead. And I need to go get some more green pepper plants.) And there's another plot going in once Trav gets home and helps me dig it. It'll be for the vine plants. But isn't it pretty? (See the shadow on the right? Yeah, I was out there all day. 10:30-12:30, then 2-3:30. Ok, so not all day, but it was hot. So it felt like it.)

Here's what we have planted (or will plant):

plant	# of plants
dwarf peas	16
Alaska peas	16
bush beans	126
green onion	48
broccoli	6
chives	32
carrots	160
cherry tomatoes	2
Endless Summer tomatoes	2
Roma tomatoes	2
bell peppers	10
onion	48
zucchini	1
yellow squash	1
beets	128
pole beans	16
cauliflower	4
spinach	27
lettuce	12
red onions	48

We've also planted 8 flowers in there. Some for bug repellant purposes, some for prettiness, and some for edibility. Maybe I'll be more inclined to make salads when I have the lettuce in the garden and flowers to make it look all fancy-shmancy. You think I have a hope?


I'm excited. Very, very excited.