More Gardening

I had all but given up on my big garden this year. I still had to dig a trench, bury the soaker hose, cover it, even out the garden with a rake, cover it with newspaper that I then wet, then cover the top of that with black plastic before I could plant.

What's all the hullabaloo about? Well, I've reclaimed this garden from the yard. It's right underneath the only REAL tree in our yard, which offers a lot of shade but, also, a lot of seeds. Because this soil is so rich (actually it's loam from the decayed bark mulch that's been sitting there for 3 years), anything and everything grows in it. While I've been in the process of preparing the garden, things are continuously sprouting and I keep seeing little green leaves poking up their little heads. The only possible way to keep the grass and seeds from taking over this plot again is to starve them of light. And the only way I know to do THAT is with lots of newspaper and black plastic. The newspaper and black plastic make the process of watering much more difficult, though, because it requires a lot more water to penetrate all those layers. Thus, the buried soaker hose. Much more efficient, and conserving water as well.

But this all seemed like a little too much work for me at this point in my life. Plus, most everything I have already planted is doing GREAT. The herbs on the deck are ready to be harvested again - for the second time already this season. And my box garden is doing amazing things. It meant I wouldn't have tomatoes this year, since I haven't yet planted any, but I reasoned that I could live without them for one year. So the garden has sat. Periodically, I'll go out, turn a little more soil, dig up a few more of those little sprouts and roots, but I haven't really progressed much.

This morning, Dane met me when I arrived in the kitchen.

"Mama, before you start breakfast, will you come outside with me and look at the squash?" he asked. Dane and I made an agreement last month to which he has been VERY faithful. If he waters all my outside plants before school on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday mornings (before Church on Sunday, that is), for the entire month of May, I'll pay him $10. He started around the middle of April and never needs to be reminded. Every other day, he gets to check out the progress of our gardens up close while he waters. He loves it and is getting paid and it means I can scratch something off my very full TO DO list. Today was watering day. He had been looking over the plants.

I pulled a coat on over my jammies, and we headed out to my box garden. I had planted 6 yellow squash and 6 zucchini. Then went back and put 5 bell peppers in amongst the squash, reasoning that the squash plants would stay low to the ground and the peppers would get tall, a perfect recipe for existing in the same garden area. One of my zucchinis had died immediately, but I still have 11 plants in this garden. I walked around the corner with Dane and sucked in my breath. The squash is absolutely out of control. There are 3 - 4 layers of leaves from each plant, so large that they billow out like a tropical rain forest. The entire garden is covered. From the top and the sides, you can't see ONE SPOT of soil, just beautiful, fuzzy green leaves. Dane and I dug through the leaves to look below. Each squash plant has several fruit already, with blooms on the end which will open this coming week. One should open today. I counted as many as 12 blooms on some of the plants. The yellow squash is just as prolific as the zucchini. My poor peppers, however, are completely blocked from the sun by several layers of squash leaves. I just waited too late to plant the peppers and they didn't have a chance to establish themselves and grow taller than the squash plants before THEY took off. I fear it's too late now.

"Mama, what are we going to do about our poor peppers?" Dane asked, perplexed. He wasn't the only one. I can't stand the thought of these little plants dying for lack of sunlight. Especially not when they're in so rich a soil. I've tried breaking off some of the squash leaves around the peppers to allow them sunlight. The squash has promptly filled in the area with new, larger leaves.

"I don't know, son, but we've got to do something! Maybe I'll just have to transplant the peppers." To where, though, I thought. Do I want to put out another planter on the deck for the peppers? I think not. And there is that WHOLE big plot in the back of the yard, just waiting to be planted.

Guess what I've been doing this morning? Yep. The soaker hose is now IN!! Yay! And tested and cover up. And I've gotten a lot of the leveling done. I had to stop for a drink break and decided to write my Post. Now I've got to hurry out, finish the leveling, put down my newspaper and plastic, and I can get my little peppers in their own garden. Maybe I'll get to the peppers tomorrow and can put in some tomatoes, as well, now that I'll have some space.

I decided that biting off the whole garden was too much for me this late in the season. I only dug one trench from front to back of the garden, which is 16 feet long. That gives me a row on each side of the hose or 32 linear feet of planting space. That ought to be more than enough for this year, and a good start to my garden. Next year, I'll dig a second trench and, maybe, a third for my soaker hose and spread out a little more. But I decided that something was better than nothing this year, and 32 feet of garden is nothing to sniff at.

I've got to get back at it, though, if those bell peppers are going to survive and thrive. Once that's done, I've got basil, parsley, and dill to harvest.

I love Spring!