Monday, April 20, 2009

The Veggies Go In

After work today Tsui and I went to Flowercraft and invested another $100 in the vegetable plot. Tsui was no more amused at being carried through the plant store than the helper folk who were clearly giving me the, "Does she really think she's Paris Hilton?" looks. But I didn't care... tittering around in 3" heels, dress pants, blouse, Tsui in my right arm, the list of plants to get in the other.

They were low on veggies. There weren't any of the onion family represented - so I don't have the garlic, onion, leek & shallot section. Instead I over bought - getting yellow & white corn, 5 types of tomatoes, 4 bell peppers, 2 zucchini, 2 types of cucumber, lettuce, collard greens, 1 watermelon, the last strawberry plant, broccoli & cauliflower. Some might say I over-planted my little 4 x 8 foot plot. I say I'm optimistic.

I enjoyed taking each plant out of its little container, breaking up the roots so they'd quickly & easily take over the garden, placing it in its little hole and then tapping the dirt all around it. I didn't enjoy that the last bit of soil I added was laden with wood remains, so I'm getting splinters in my hands and know that I'm going to have to move to gloved gardening. However that will help my nails, as they are not enjoying all the dirt contact.

Marc did the honors of watering the little plantlings. He got home as I was planting the last few green babies. I am dreading the day when I have to rip out the remains of the plants to make space for new ones. But they all got tucked in and I'm hoping they'll all be there when I check on them tomorrow morning.

More updates to come... that is if you tune back in. Was my life more interesting when my favorite band was My Life With The Thrill Kill Cult? Hope my blog doesn't replace Ambien in your life. Is reading about corn growing as exciting as watching paint dry? You'll have to come back to find out.

1 comment:

Cici said...

Well, it's interesting to me, because we are doing a vegetable garden again this year. Do watch out for overplanting though - you'll get deformed root veggies if they're too close together -we made this mistake last year.

This time, we interspersing the vegetable with flowers - nasturtiums and mini pansies. The nasturtiums are a natural slug repellent (i think) and the pansies are because I like them. Also, you can put them in salads.

We're doing tomatoes in pots, purple carrots, peas, runner beans, lettuces in pots, beetroot, broccoli, lots of herbs, potatoes, strawberries in pots and I can't remember what else - Dave's in charge of the garden.

It's true the first year is not very economic - I'm not sure that you ever end up really saving money, but it's fun and relaxing and the veggies do taste good!