So anyway, I wanted to post about my first day as a real live gardener. Boyfriend/Fiance and I took Teenybop out to the garden today for the first time, just to map out the "blocks" we'll be planting. I'm using a concept called "square foot gardening" which apparently makes the best of the space you have, and gives you a crapload of great salad. So I'm giving it a shot since I want good salad all summer, maybe all the way into the fall, and lots of yummy veggies in my freezer for the winter.
Also, the plot was bigger than we thought it would be, which was cool. We were planning for a 10x10 spot, but ended up with a 14x9 and that was cool, too. I don't know though, I sorta liked the layout for the square plan better than the new rectangular one. But whatever, right? Go with the flow?
So today the flow took me out to the garden site, where Boyfriend/Fiance and I mapped out, staked out, and corded borders around most of the planting areas. There's still more to be done, but it was more fun even in the beginning than I thought it would be. I was dreading the work stuff; the planning and plotting and mapping, just looking forward to the little seedlings, the baby plants growing up, and of course, the picking and eating of the great salad.
In the meantime, the work we did today was just meant to be the grunt work, you know? Kinda like the same way boys see kissing and hand holding ... it's all right, but really it's just a means to an end. But I like kissing most of the time, I like hand holding almost all of the time, and I liked the grunt work today. It was oddly peaceful, even though we didn't really get all that much accomplished yet.
Once we got everything all mapped out, the next step was to mulch the paths through the garden so that I don't have to ever step on soil that's being planted. That way it doesn't get compacted and hard for plants to grow in. And trust me, they need all the help they can get ... most of the bed is a dirt that's mostly clay, so that's an extra step for us; once we dig it deep and try to get most of the rocks out of the plot, we've got to go through and try to mix in a good bit of decent compost before we can plant anything, so that there's at least a decent medium for growing things in.
Alas, the rocks aren't all out yet so that's my work for tomorrow. We'll be back at the garden first thing in the morning after breakfast, all of us dressed in raggedy clothes so that it'll be okay to be filthy by days end. The jobs for tomorrow?
- finish digging up all the dang rocks ... at the least.
- if there's time and energy left, hoe the area (stop laughing Jess) to loosen up all the clay
- if we're not dead by then, mix in some compost and then sit back and see how pretty it will be once it's all worked and ... well, pretty.
Then again ... I've got really low blood protein, and there's no way I'll have enough energy to accomplish all that, especially with Teenybop "helping" me, and Boyfriend/Fiance trying to get me to get busy in the dirt with him. Apparently I looked pretty good in the dirt with filth under my nails and hair in my face from the wind blowing. Men are so strange; when you dress your very best they barely notice, but when you're filthy and gross they love that.
Maybe because filthy and gross usually only happens when you're relaxed and having a good time? In the meantime, I can't wait to get back tomorrow and get something else done, take a few pictures, and feel like I've done something useful for a change.
