Thursday, April 15, 2010

in the garden

I used to joke that it's a good thing that I don't have to feed us out of the garden because we'd starve. I'm a wanna be gardener. I have grand plans and good intentions. I just don't know what happens. I feel like this year might be the year I make some growth in this area. Hopefully literally. I have attended a series of workshops at the extension office, read a number of books about gardening and read a ton of stuff online. Apparently, this does not make me a skilled gardener.

I spent numerous hours this past weekend enlarging my 'looks like I buried someone in the backyard' garden. I only this evening found out that the neighbors behind us have a tiller. I did this all by hand. I also aparently did it by shoulders, legs, feet, back and everything else that is still sore.

The sugar snap peas I had planted in the before mentioned portion of the garden are coming up nicely. They are planted by the pole beans and spinach, also showing signs of life.

Now they have some friends. While I started a bunch of seeds inside over a month ago, I ended up needing to buy most of my plants. Maybe next year I'll have more things from seed. Again, I don't know where I'm going wrong here.

I added tomatoes (the only things I've ever grown really well) in several varieties, green peppers, cucumbers, broccoli, and cauliflower. We have strawberries in the front flowerbeds and blueberries closer to the house.

I also updated the compost bins. It was quiet the redo since they were previously a compost pile. Now I have two lovely bins. There is still some debris left in the pile, but my poor legs can't lift another load. Maybe next weekend.

Mama bird watched me suspiciously all weekend. I think she has laid her eggs because she never leaves the nest. Last year she had her babies about the time we moved in, which was in August. I am curious if that means she has two sets a year.... or maybe her first nesting experience last year didn't work out so well and there was time for a redo. I've heard of that.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I don't know much about pole beans, but I think they will grow taller than the poles you have. We "co-garden" with another family (they have the land, do the tilling, wattering and weeding) We split the picking. For their "poles", they use fencing that is 5-6 feet tall. I think that if you have shorter poles the vines will hang back down after they reach the height of your poles. Maybe you will be ok.

Love Always,
Dad