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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.

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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!

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By Alyssa, January 15, 2010 8:37 pm

Now that seed catalogs are on their way in the mail and I’m fully committed to this garden, I decided it was time for a plan.  I’m a planner so I totally geeked out in the process.  I measured every square foot of our southern lawn and bark area.  I printing a grid on the computer and designing my future garden area to scale.  Here’s what the current area looks like:

Looking east from the fence gate

And from the other side:

Looking west from the grass

Yes, there’s still snow on the ground and I know it’s January, but I’ve got a lot to do prior to planting.  I’ve never liked the river rocks by the fence since the bark is constantly blown into them and I’m sick of the monstrous dog house in the middle of nowhere.  I want my final product to look like this:

My Nerdy To-Scale Garden Plan

First thing, find a way to move that dog house to the northwest corner of the garden area. This task sounds simple, but my engineering hubby built it.  The dog’s house is literally a scaled down home completely framed and roofed to withstand WWIII. Don’t get me wrong, Hubby’s an incredible engineer and I’m proud of his workmanship, but it’s over 400lbs. No, I’m not kidding.

Anyway, task one: Move dog mansion.  Task two: build sandbox.  What??  That’s right, before I can even start landscaping and gardening, a sandbox must be built.  The reality is that I have a four-year-old and one-year-old and these boys are not going to entertain themselves while Mommy’s out messing with the vegetables.  Wait, they probably would entertain themselves, but dumping everything out of my dresser drawers and unrolling all of the toilet paper in the bathrooms is not my kind of entertainment.  So with my garden planning, I had to include outdoor boy entertainment and a sandbox surfaced at the top of the list. I’ll leave you with this “before” picture as the area will soon include a sturdy WWIII-ready sandbox.  Have a great weekend… I’ve got river rocks to move.

See that big pile of river rocks? Imagine a sandbox in the middle.

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By Alyssa, January 11, 2010 5:23 pm

I’m going to go through with it this year.  I’m becoming a gardener. The concept of going into my backyard and picking green beans for dinner sounds delicious, but the whole “gardening” thing has me a bit overwhelmed.  I’ve decided to share my trials here as I try to get things to grow.  Here’s my super geeky gardening profile:

Name: Alyssa Aarhaus

Location: Denver, Colorado

Gardening Zone (wow, I already sound professional): between 5 and 6

Prior Experience:  Despite three moves and leaving it in the car for a few days, kept a house plant alive for seven years (Plant name: Epipremnum aureum… oh yeah, I just threw Latin out there).  Continues to keep basil, parsley, and oregano alive in planters on the kitchen window sill.  O.K., honestly, the basil’s looking a little weak sauce lately.

Gardening Goals: Grow a small raised bed garden in the back yard to teach the boys about vegetables. Hopefully grow enough cucumbers and tomatoes to can relish and stewed tomatoes in the fall.

Resources:  1. My Internet researching addiction 2. All New Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew and The Backyard Homestead edited by Carleen Madigan 3. Gardening friends that are patient enough to answer a barrage of ridiculous questions

Yes.  I’m a nerd, but I’m NOT a gardening nerd so we’ll see how it goes.  My first gardening discovery was the importance of seeds.  You can buy seeds from the supermarket, but better seeds produce better veggies. I went a little nuts and ordered the following recommended seed catalogs that should arrive in the mail within the next few weeks:

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds
Burpee Seeds
Johnny’s Seeds
Park Seed Co.
Seeds of Change
Seed Savers
Stokes
Thompson and Morgan Seeds
Vesey’s Seeds

I told you I went overboard!  I also found Botanical Interests, a Colorado company, on Twitter and I’ve been reviewing their online catalog.  I haven’t decided if I will be purchasing hybrid seeds or heirloom seeds yet.  Hybrid seeds are professionally cultivated seeds, while heirloom seeds are from plants that have been passed down many generations.  You can’t save your hybrid plant’s seeds, but there are certain heirloom plants that provide seeds worth saving for the next gardening year.  I’ll report back when seed shopping begins.

Until then, I’ve got to convince Hubby of our essential need for a outdoor 55-gallon drum composter.  I mean, I’ve got to convince Hubby to buy the drum, build the composter, and, oh by the way, build the wood frame for my garden bed.  Wish me luck!