Anyone who has ever planted seeds before is familiar with the vague directions printed on the back of the package. "Sow 1/4 inch deep, spacing 6-8 inches apart. Harvest in 65 days." The package might as well say, "Put in dirt. See what happens." And that is what I am doing. I am taking the directions the supplier gives merely as suggestions. "Plant 18 inches apart." 18 inches?! That is so much space. How about 12 inches? I am sure that there is a reason they suggest 18 inches (each plant needs more room to spread out, competing for resources, etc.), but I am trying to maximize my space.
A few posts ago I reported on the seeds I had planted. Well, due to my impatience, I planted more seeds inside about a week ago. Realistically, I still have at least four weeks before I can plant any of these little plant babies outside. My thought was that if I started them early, then they would be big and strong once I was ready to plant them outside. One thing I did not count on, however, was how quickly some of them would grow. My miniature greenhouse has a plastic lid to keep heat and water in. Within one week of being planted, the bean plants have become so tall and so strong that they were literally lifting the lid off the greenhouse. All of a sudden the story of Jack and the Beanstalk came back to me, and it all made sense. Those weren't "magic beans!" Jack simply started them inside in a small greenhouse way before he should have.
These latest seeds that I have planted have far surpassed the previous ones both in speed and strength. Seriously, not only are these bean plants as big around as a drinking straw, but they emerged from the soil two days ago and are already nearly three inches tall. The laundry room may soon become known as the jungle.
04 April 2011
03 April 2011
This should be interesting
The garden is taking shape. Several weeks ago, we rented a tiller and tilled the area for the garden. After much deliberation, I decided on an area that is 39' long and 17' wide. That is 663 square feet! I seriously considered creating another garden of the same size on the other side of the yard, but that would have been more than 1300 square feet for me to take care of. I did not foresee that turning out well, so I stuck with what I had.
During a conversation with my mom and sisters, I realized that, perhaps, I have little to no idea what I am doing. But that is not necessarily a bad thing! We were discussing potato plants because my sister plans on planting hers in a container of some sort. I explained that I had just planted mine and then planted strawberry plants in between the potatoes. My sister laughed and said, "You know that you will have to start digging potatoes up a few feet around where you planted them, right?" This could very well mean that I will have to dig up the strawberry plants to get to the potatoes. We will have to see how that goes.
After tilling the garden area, we realized that our dogs might invade it, so we decided to build a small fence around it. I think it looks pretty awesome! Talk about sustainable living. I just hope our neighbor doesn't care that we took all of his branches.
During a conversation with my mom and sisters, I realized that, perhaps, I have little to no idea what I am doing. But that is not necessarily a bad thing! We were discussing potato plants because my sister plans on planting hers in a container of some sort. I explained that I had just planted mine and then planted strawberry plants in between the potatoes. My sister laughed and said, "You know that you will have to start digging potatoes up a few feet around where you planted them, right?" This could very well mean that I will have to dig up the strawberry plants to get to the potatoes. We will have to see how that goes.
After tilling the garden area, we realized that our dogs might invade it, so we decided to build a small fence around it. I think it looks pretty awesome! Talk about sustainable living. I just hope our neighbor doesn't care that we took all of his branches.
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