Comments (2)

By Alyssa, May 26, 2010 2:52 pm

Welp, I’m a gardener now.  I have a garden.  Don’t mean to brag, but man did I work hard on it!  Remember this area?  And that box I picked up for free on Craigslist?

I painted it, along with a few scrap wood boxes Haus made for me (we enlisted the neighbors to help move the big box into the backyard)…

Then I drilled 1/4″ holes in the bottom for drainage and stapled black weather guard to the bottom of the scrap wood boxes (I heart power tools)…

I put a 1/2″ of peat rock in the bottom of each box and then mixed 1/3 assorted compost, 1/3 vermiculite, 1/3 peat moss (only place I could find Vermiculite in Denver was the American Clay Works and Supply Company.  $20 for that huge bag.) …

In the last step, I filled all of the boxes about 8-10 inches full of my soil and planted!  Here’s my main square foot garden with cucumbers (in the milk jug “hot caps”), herbs, lettuce, beets, carrots, and marigolds in the corners:

Craigslist box

In the scrap boxes I planted winter and summer squash with a marigold border (on the left), and tomatoes with a basil border (on the right):

I used old milk jugs without caps and bottoms cut off to make hot caps for the tomato and cucumber transplants.  I didn’t think they would survive the current Colorado night temperatures or wind without them.  As soon as summer really hits around here, I’ll phase them out.  Next time I’ll post about my transplant mistakes and tomato cage discovery (Did you notice the cages are upside down?).

Please post tips for me if you have them. I’ve spent $50 on seeds/transplants and $80 on soil and Hubby Haus is kinda hoping to see a return on the investment.  Your gardening secrets would help!  Happy gardening, friends!

Comments (2)

By Alyssa, May 6, 2010 1:50 pm

Here’s updated pictures of my soon-to-be garden area.

Remember this?

The side yard facing west

After 6 hours of hard labor and a wicked sunburn…

About 3 hours in... (with my Cowboy helper)

The area now looks like this:

I moved all of the rock on the south side of the yard by the fence, extended the rock on the north end, and just need to get my square foot gardens in place.  Tomato transplants show up tomorrow so I better get moving.  Happy Spring!

Comments (0)

By Alyssa, April 22, 2010 6:31 pm

As I write this post, it’s hailing and raining and thundering outside.  Thank goodness my little seedling starters are cozy in their seed starting tray.

Bubba and I planted marigolds, cucumbers, and a variety of herbs on Saturday and they sprouted almost immediately!  A few books told me to wait until a few strong sprouts pop up and then pinch off all put one strong seedling per compartment.  We’re waiting… patiently.  We hope to plant these outside in our garden after the last frost.

In other news, Haus built an amazing sandbox last weekend.  Remember what the sandbox area used to look like?

Haus borrowed the plans on a blog we found called Dover Projects and altered a few things to create a 6 x 6 foot sandbox too fabulous to describe.  Because I married an engineer, not only were rocks moved, ground leveled, and peat gravel laid prior to the sandbox’s arrival to its new plot of land, but the edges of the box were routed, sanded, and painted to match our house.  Gotta love that man.

I’ve already enjoyed the ease of preparing dinner with an open window to monitor two satisfied sandy kids.  We also decided that since the kids play in the monster doghouse more than the dog, we should keep it near their play area.  Here’s what it looks like now.  We moved A LOT of rocks.

My next project is sanding and painting my free Craigslist planter, a 4 x 5 foot box that I’m turning into my square-foot garden.  This box used to be the indoor lost and found container at a local gymnastics center.  I saw the free listing, drove up, and with the assistance of a few strong gymnasts, left with a perfect waist-high, 12-inch deep planter.  Can you say, SCORE?

You should have seen Haus’ face when he saw that in the back of the truck.  Even though he half admits to the impressiveness of the frugal find, I’m no longer allowed to peruse Craigslist while I have the truck keys nearby.  Weather permitting, I hope to be posting a picture of this freshly painted planter in my garden area next week.  Until then, happy spring, friends!

Comments (2)

By Alyssa, March 29, 2010 7:51 pm

I finally ordered my seeds!  Well, I ordered them last week and started to get excited about surveying my garden space when it snowed 10 inches.  Gotta love Colorado.  I have a few friends that are interested in what I’m ordering, so here’s the skinny.  I tried to pick out plants advertised as extreme condition survivors.  The old saying in Colorado is that if you don’t like the weather, wait ten minutes.  It’s sure to change.  I prepped the garden area today amidst snow drifts in a tank top.  No kidding.

I ordered all of my seeds online from Seed Savers Exchange.  The following vegetable and herb seeds should be delivered within the next week.

Vegetables:
Provider Green Bean
Detroit Dark Red Beet
St. Valery Carrot
Parade Cucumber
Bronze Arrowhead Lettuce
Gold Rush Lettuce
Black Beauty Zucchini Squash
Golden Zucchini Squash

Herbs:
Genovese Basil
Giant from Italy Parsley
Greek Oregano
Thyme

I also ordered Nasturtium (Empress of India) and Marigolds (Jolly Jester) in order to strengthen the soil and deter pests.

Instead of tomato seeds, I selected transplants that will be shipped the middle of May.  Colorado is a tough place to grow tomatoes, I’ve heard, because of the short season.  I’m hoping these two plants (Hungarian Heart and Stupice) will make it through our summer hail and extreme temperatures.

I’ve put a lot of research into everything so far and I’m extremely excited to get started.  I wish I had this plan during my moving military years as a garden would have instantly made me feel at home.  Feel free to comment if you have any questions about my selections.

Comments (0)

By Alyssa, February 23, 2010 11:03 pm

Seed Catalogs

Missed Part I?  Click here.

I almost broke the first rule of beginning gardening.  START SMALL!

As the seed catalogs came in the mail, I found excuses to visit my backyard and dream about my future plot of greenery.  With every visit, I had a new idea. I’d build this and then move that and then buy this and… yeah, I got a little out of control.  Thank goodness I’m married to the most logical, non-emotional decision maker I know.  Hubby looked over my plans, listened to my ideas, gave small suggestions, and then, when I mentioned the cascading ivy, wild flower sanctuary, and waterfall, he put his foot down.  One vegetable garden this summer, one, uno, that’s it.  I persuaded, then ranted, then threw a mini-fit, followed by a major fit… and, well, did the only thing I could do in this type of situation.  As the mature one in our relationship, I stormed out like a teenage girl, thought about everything for a bit, and, decided he was right.  I’m such a great wife.

If I want to set myself up for gardening success this year, I have to force myself to start small.  This means no herb garden and half the garden size I originally intended to grow. Check out the new plan (Yes, I used red to show my bleeding ideas, killed until next summer.  Can you say, Drama Queen?):

I’ll still be building the kid’s sandbox (well, er… assisting Hubby in the construction) and moving the doghouse, but everything else is going to wait until next summer.  I know at the very least I want to grow cucumbers, tomatoes, and squash, but I’m still rethinking the smaller garden.  I did narrow down the seed catalogs to heirloom seeds only and decided to use Seed Savers Exchange.  To be honest, the only reason why I chose Seed Savers is because Barbara Kingsolver, my absolute favorite author, uses their seeds in her garden.  Quite the logical decision, right?

I may have lost the war on my ridiculous garden plans, but I did win one battle.  Hubby’s buying me a pretty sweet composter from Costco.  It’s his logical answer to yet another one of my crazy ideas.  Wait, did I just put sweet and composter in the same sentence?  I’d say it’s time to go to bed.  Garden plot plans coming soon!