Garden Is Planted (Well, Almost)

Two 12×24 beds. DONE.

I love gardening, but planting is tough– you have to bend completely over to do it. By the end of the day, my back is moaning it’s disapproval.

In case you’re wondering, we string up the beds like that to make sure the seeds are planted in straight rows. I like a pleasant-looking garden (maintaining a nice appearance REALLY helps come late June, when you have to go out to weed it AGAIN). It’s also a great guideline for the kids. They are older now, and don’t tend to create the zig-zags of peas and squash that they used to…. but I like the rows. When the seeds germinate and sprout up high enough, we remove the string.

I’ve got almost everything planted– we still have to plug in the rutabaga (it’s a late season crop, better after a frost, so I wait until June to plant it). I’ve also got sunflowers to plant– they are going along the outside of the garden, but the son must bust that sod yet… we’re skipping potatoes this year and planting almost all lettuce-y type stuff (chard, kale, collards, etc). And I’m hoping my organic bug spray will sufficiently ward off the cabbage eaters…

I usually spread a thin layer of peat moss on top of everything when I’m done, but the prices here are $8.49 per 3 cubic yards! I would need 10. NO WAY am I spending almost $100 on peat moss, no way. That would literally eat up any savings I’d make by planting my own food. So we’re going to have to do a little extra labor this year— watering and lots of weeding.

The grape vine has thus far survived the roaming deer.