Friday, April 9, 2010

Garden Gumption ~ Post #2

~* Garden Gumption *~
(Post #2)
There's Some Growing Going On!!

So, it's been a few weeks since I started planting my seeds in my indoor garden "green houses". My lettuce really took off, along with some pea plants, cabbage, beaf steak tomato plants, and  corn. After verifying that the weather would be staying above 50 degrees for a while, there was only one thing left to do:
finishing the outside garden area and prepping it so that some of the plants could be transplanted!! Very exciting!

Our garden area is in a nice sunny spot for most of the day. I attacked the soil with our garden claw and let it "air out" for a day. Then, I added a layer of some Miracle Grow garden soil mix. Even though our soil is made mostly of clay and has some ashes mixed in with it (we found a huge section of our yard to be made of packed down ashes dumped there by the previous owners in an attempt to be rid of their coal stove ashes), I wanted to add the Miracle Grow garden soil mix in order to provide more nutrients for our plants. Using a dirt rake and my garden claw again, I mixed the Miracle Grow mix with the already existing soil. After all of the mixing was complete, then came the water!! I broke out our garden hose and sprayed the water onto our nutrient-filled soil.  

The next day, meant time to plant!! I selected some of the stronger looking lettuce, pea, and tomato plants to be transplanted into the outdoor garden. I made sure to put each group of plants into a square foot section, placing each plant a few inches away from it's neighbor in every direction. The lettuce and pea plants could be planted a little closer together. The tomato plants, since they will grow to be rather large in comparison to the others, were planted one in every six inch space. By keeping the plants spaced out and in square foot sections, I am able to leave enough space  between plants so that their roots have plenty of room to grow, AND I can make the most of my garden space! After all of my 2-inch sprouts were planted, I again sprayed the garden with water so that the roots could get a good "drink"!

So that's basically where my garden is at right now. Every morning and every evening I spray some water on my little vegetable plants, unless of course it rains or the soil doesn't need it -- don't want to drown them!!

While we wait for my little seeds and sprouts to grow, my husband and I are tackling another section of our yard and making it into another "garden area". Once we get rid of an old, decaying tree stump that is blocking our progress, we will create another "garden box" similar to the one we already have so that it can house some potato, garlic, and onion plants. I'm excited for our potential harvest this year!! I'll have more updates on that section at a later date.

Well, there you have it -- that's how my gardening has been going over the past few weeks!  Look for an update next Friday, along with some more gardening tips and ideas!  Happy Gardening!!

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(In the picture to the right, note: at the bottom of the stairs and to the right you can see the lstained andscaping timbers. Within this area you will find my main garden area where most of my plants are growing. The mound of dirt along the other side of the sidewalk houses the horribly large and rotted old tree stump that my husband is determined to get rid of!  The other 2 lonely landscaping timbers at the back of the yard is where our 2nd garden area will be located. Look for more pictures in upcoming posts!!)

~*It's the Simple Things...*~

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