Friday, May 29, 2009

Sit in the garden

My neighbor, Ruth, and I have been talking about growing a community garden this summer. My son also expressed interest in growing a 'salsa' garden.
So, last weekend, we got busy. First we chose the spot. I have an unused dog run that is fully fenced and fairly close to a water pump. My son, Ross, cleaned it up. Then the three of us drove to town to rent a rototiller. We rented one for 24 hours., knowing that we had a big job ahead with the hard ground here.After working at it for an hour we decided that the rototiller wasn't powerful enough so we drove back to town for the BIG one.

My son makes it look so easy doesn't he?
But, believe me, that thing bucked! While we were in town we bought vegetable plants and bags of soil builder.
We laid out all the plants and proceeded to plant them.

Then we watered them being very careful not to upset the plants and dirt walls.We covered the new plants with some old hay for protection against the harsh sun.

Ross really has a green thumb in this picture!


We planted tomatoes, lettuce, onions, yellow squash, zucchini, green peppers, eggplant, jalapenos, sweet peas, corn, cantaloupe and watermelon. We also threw in some herbs: dill, cilantro, and bee balm. We planted zinnia and marigolds here and there to help fight the bugs. I threw moth balls around the perimeter fence too.

I know this garden isn't going to be economically efficient. I mean we can buy lots of vegetables, and fruits too, for the hundreds of dollars we'll spend on it but it'll be fun. The produce will be healthy too.

Sit in the garden - song: If there is something, artist: Tin Machine covering
Roxy Music, album: Tin Machine

6 comments:

TxFarmhouse said...

And...Voila! you have a garden! That's amazing that y'all did all that work and your before and after pictures show it. Okay, now you're going to have to keep up with pictures of a weed-free garden. No fair if I don't see weeds.

jane augenstein said...

Wow! That was some BIG tiller! Your garden looks great, can't wait to see more pictures as the garden grows!
~Jane and Gilly~

Dan and Betty said...

Well done. You guys looked like you knew what you were doing. There's nothing better than fresh food.

Dan

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

How's all this rain treating it? I hope it's not too violent for the new sprouts and that the rain helps them grow big and strong with lots of produce.
Can't wait to try a salad and some salsa from the garden :)

~Lisa

The Wades said...

Great bonding day! I think a garden is worth every penny.

Will you be selling your salsa? :)

Melanie said...

What an excellent idea!!!! I have a raised garden in my backyard, but it is small, and only has tomatoes, peppers, carrots and snap peas.