Memorial Day

Man o'man....the crops are planted. It took us two days, but they are in. I am very happy with the result, but tired. Last night I dreamed that I was planting! Humorously, my bedroom overlooks the gardens and I am convinced that I could hear the plants growing! Now all I need is some rain!

The pictures that I uploaded are of the plantings, but I thought it would be nice to list out what we planted. You will notice the lines of cord going North/South. These are the individual rows of seeds.

So what did we plant? Here it is:

• Front Garden
• 52 Tomato Plants
• 12 Broccoli Plants
• 8 Cauliflower Plants
• 4 Eggplants
• 3 Zucchini Plants
• 1 Summer Squash
• 8 Green Cabbage
• 4 Red Cabbage
• 5 Hills of Cucumbers
• 3 Lines of Lima Beans
• 2 Lines of Wax Beans
• 1 Line of Peas
• 1 Line of Beets
• 1 Line of Spinach
• 2 Lines of Edamame
• 2 Teepee's of Sugar Snap Peas
• 1 Line of Cilantro and Dill
• 1 Line of Cosmos
• 1 Line of Bachelor Buttons
• 1 Line of Poppies

Is that enough? Ha...just wait!

• Back Garden
• 30 Feet of Green Pole Beans
• 24 Green Pepper Plants (sweet)
• 4 Yellow Pepper Plants (sweet)
• 8 Red Pepper Plants (sweet)
• 8 Purple Pepper Plants (sweet)
• 15 Feet of Onions
• 4 Hills of Gourds (assorted and bird house)

And if that still isn't enough...

• Cold Frames
• Lettuce (salad mix)
• Carrots
• Arugula
  
  

The front garden hasn't been mulched yet, but you can see that the back garden has been covered with straw. I use straw because it decomposes and doesn't let weeds grow. On the garden paths I lay the straw very thick (about 3 inches) and over the plants I lightly shake the straw to cover the ground. I have found, in times past, that the straw keeps in moisture and keeps the sun from baking the clay ground into pottery!

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Every Fall I "acquire" bales of straw from family members that used the straw as Halloween displays for their pumpkins, scarecrows, etc. This year I stored 6 bales in my barn for use this summer. This one simple step saved me $$ and no doubt made an excellent home for several small creatures. I am a big proponent of Organic gardening (some modifications....I am not a total purist!) and the straw comes in handy for helping to save resources.

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When Alex tilled the front garden, I had him extend the perimeter past the fence so that I could plant flowers and herbs for cooking. This is a fortuitous action, because of a lack of proper planning, I ran out of room inside the garden. I also put in a garden bench and I plan on mulching this area with traditional bark mulch for aesthetic reasons as well as weed control.

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As you can see in the picture, my lack of planning caused me to run out of room inside the garden so I needed to plant the cucumbers on the outside of the fence. Let's just hope that rabbits don't like cucumbers!

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The last thing that I need to do before declaring this garden "finished" is to build the garden gate for the front garden. At the moment I have it completely ghetto rigged with an old piece of

plywood, a small piece of fence, a 2x2 post to hold it together and set on top of old lumber. This looks awful and requires the use of a power screw driver to gain entrance into the garden. I am not going to show a pic of this because it is so embarrassing. However, when I finish building the permanent gate, I may slip in a small pic to show the before and after. Let me tell you....no matter what the new gate looks like, it can't look anywhere near as bad as what's there now!

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Now its time to sit back and listen to the garden grow!

Until next week,
I wish for you quiet, dignity, and grace.
Dan