Sprouts!

Just a quick note. This evening while watering the garden, we found sprouts of arugula, kale, and radishes. A very promising and exciting development. Yeah!

What's This About Trial and Error...

Disappointment. That was the emotion I experienced, returning home from what felt like a very long week away, to find that very...very few of the plants survived the transfer from greenhouse to garden. I wanted a learning experience, and guess what I got...a learning experience. Being completely honest, I wasn't sure what I would come home to. Sure, my day dreams conjured something resembling the beginnings of the Garden of Eden, but again that was a day dream. I didn't however expect the near total dessamation of garden life. Being the learning experience, I pondered what might have caused this, or what could I have done differently. Certainly (duh!) not being away for a week would have been a good place to start. However, in my defense, the week away was filled with mild temperatures and rain. I did check the soil when I returned home, and it was moist. Could it have been a shock to be transfered directly from our indoor greenhouse (a comfortable and consistent 72 to 74 degrees) to the garden (dipping into the high 50's to low 60's at night)? Could it have been the exposure to newly applied fertilizers (i.e. compost and steer manure)? I just don't know and may never know...and that's okay.

So, if that was my trial, and my error, then this would be were I try...try again. I have decide (of course) to re-seed the entire garden, minus the three living survivors (one kentucky green bean, one summer squash, and one swiss chard). I also have decided that the beds need to be re-vamped. The first time, the ground was roughly leveled flat, and then small paths were created around the planting beds. This time, I have decided to build up small berms around each of the planting bed to help keep the water were I wanted it, and to keep them from drying out by the wind (which might have been a problem before). While re-vamping the beds, I did a little light weeding (very thankful that the Garden of Eden in my day dream wasn't in reality lush with milkweed).

Again, a lot of work has been put into our garden, but I have rather enjoyed the mindless simplicity of working with the soil, and turing into the personification of Peanuts Pig-pin. In summary I have planted 24 different types of vegetables in our garden this year. Our list of veggies include: corn, green beans, peas, black beans, soy beans, cherry tomatoes, beefsteak tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, poblano peppers, bell peppers, cucumbers, broccoli, brussel sprouts, radishes, carrots, green onions, white onions, swiss chard, beets, spinach, arugula, butternut squash, summer squash, and zucchini. Woo, that's a mouth full. I still plan on planting some herbs this year, but that's another day.

Build it, but will they grow?

The day had finally come. A day of action. A day, whose activities had been played out countless time and lodged in the back recesses of my mind. A day soon to become a memory. The day, we create our garden.

I can say with certainty now, that I have spent more than enough time surveying our soil. During my stint ripping out the sod/weeds and the subsequent silent beating I felt the lawn had given me, I learned that our little postage stamp was predominately composed of clay. Clay containing very little organic material, silt or sand, and sticky when wet, hard as a rock when dry. Yuck! So, on the eve of "the day", I visited the happy little garden department at our local Lowes, and purchases 12 cubic feet of (8 bags ) of garden soil/compost, 2 cubic feet of steer manure (2 bags), and 250 pounds of play sand (9 bags).

The following morning, with my dad in tow and mom with my girls, I visited the nearest Home Depot, specifically their rental department (No rentals at Lowes...bummer). We were not disappointed. We got the largest rear-tine tiller they had, and ramps to load it into the back of the truck. As the well seasoned employee express, cost of ramp rental is a lot cheaper than the cost of a chiropractor. Too right!

Nothing to do now, but get dirty. My mother and father, and I worked, cleaning the remaining weeds around the parameter of the garden; spreading the soil amendments; tilling the soil amendments; and planting the plant pods. What a day! At least the weather was cool and cloudy. I imagined it to be similar to working in salinas, only without the faint ocean air.

I should mention that I only plant those pod that were actually growing. I learned, that more than many seeds in the pods simple never took, which I found somewhat unexpected. I think the lesson learned, is to over seed, with the ability to thin later. Otherwise, I am extremely happy with the way our postage stamp has been transformed.