Garden Club

This morning, as Steve and I were enjoying our coffee, Steve commented Home Depot had vegetable and herb plants buy one get one free. We’d been talking about a vegetable garden for several years now but hadn’t taken the time to actually get one planted so this year we decided would be the year we’d really do it. Yesterday, Burl was kind enough to deliver the tiller so we could work on the south section of our yard and till a garden. When we moved in, I dubbed the area “Stonehenge” because of a weird stone bench that was built/constructed/left by previous owners. I have now renamed it “Gardenhenge.”

I offered to help Steve outside even though yardwork isn’t one of my favorite things to do. Sundays are housecleaning days and I get really crabby if my floors don’t get cleaned. Plus, the kitchen was wrecked from cooking at home all weekend and I wanted to give it a deep cleaning. Still, I was interested in helping with the garden so I gamely went outside to work. We decided to switch off between tilling and ripping up the weed barrier on the berm still in the front yard. We planned to use the dirt from the berm in the garden, but removing the barrier proved to be more challenging than we though. We got about 1/4 of it done. Luckily we didn’t need the extra dirt and can chip away at the berm over the next couple of weeks. I want the darned thing gone!

I used the tiller for the first time and while it wasn’t a complete thrill to use, I didn’t mind doing it. Things would have been better if I’d had better gardening gloves. Unfortunately, I lost one of my good ones last year so I think I’ll have to invest in a new pair. The suede ones I have are stiff and the seams rub against my fingers. Anyway, I do love using a new tool, but think the power washer will be more fun when we re-stain the deck soon.

We bought four tomato plants, six different pepper plants, two basil, one dill and some lavender. We had just finished planting everything and were quite pleased with ourselves when the neighbors stopped by and informed us it was too early to plant tomatoes. Well, hell. Why would they be for sale if I couldn’t plant them?! We figured we’d cover them at night when it gets chilly and keep an eye on them. I told Steve they were either going to be planted here at our house or risk dying on a pallet at Home Depot so it was a crap shoot (or crop shoot) no matter what.

So we’ve planted our first garden and hope for a success. I figure with enough water, sunlight and covering at night we just might succeed. If all goes really well, we’ll need someone to volunteer to take the extras. Maybe we should start our own vegetable trade. Anything good started in your garden?