This is not my garden. This is my dad’s garden. He is the master. My only hope in this urban gardening endeavor was that just one little sliver of a thumbnail of his green thumb was hereditary. Black thumbs crossed… but hopes not too high. I’ve killed a lot of houseplants in my day.
New house upgrade #3,472 was putting in a garden, and with all of this nice weather, I was not dreading it. We stocked up on supplies at our local Earl May. They were extremely knowledgeable and helpful PLUS they have a free popcorn machine. I’m a customer for life!
[Still not my garden]. We came away with A LOT of loot. Every kind of seed you can imagine – beets, spinach, onions, carrots, bok choy, peas, herbs, radishes, SO MUCH KALE (I’m not kidding, we eat three bunches a week, without exception.) And eight bags of a highly recommended compost and some fertilizer.
I put on my farming hat and we got to work!
The first step was peeling up a whole lot of grass with nice and strong established roots. Not quite as miserable as refinishing our wood floors… but pretty close. This took hours and lots of manual labor. Once we had our garden area all torn up, it was time to till the soil (research suggests you should do this in the fall… whoopsies.) We started the process with a hand operated tiller. That lasted about 8 minutes. We went to True Value and rented a gas powered tiller – 3 hours, $12, sooooooo worth it. Just FYI, pull the tiller backwards. Don’t push it forwards. We of course didn’t make this mistake for the first hour and almost pulverize all of our extremities under those sharp metal, turny blades. Nope, not us. Never.
Next we spread the compost mixture and tilled again, both directions, several times. We let the soil rest over a week before putting the seeds in.
Okay fast forward to today. Now, this is NOT my dad's garden. And it happens to live in my backyard but truth be told it's not really mine either. Turns out my husband is the one with the greenest of thumbs. I knew I married him for a reason... well that and his CD collection.
Okay fast forward to today. Now, this is NOT my dad's garden. And it happens to live in my backyard but truth be told it's not really mine either. Turns out my husband is the one with the greenest of thumbs. I knew I married him for a reason... well that and his CD collection.
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