The Garden has been Planted

I woke up bright and early Saturday morning. I flung off the covers in excitement for the day. Okay, I do that every morning because I can't wait to eat breakfast. But this day I was ready for breakfast AND dirt. I was going to plant my first real garden. I got to Mom's house around 9:45 (for although I was up early, I dinked around at home. Dinking around is my favorite past-time) and we went to the seed store in Zeeland.



We prepped the garden with Organic Weed Killer and Organic Fertilizer. I know it takes 3 years for a garden to officially be Organic, but that means I have to start now. I made a map of where I wanted all the veggies to grow, how far apart they should all be and even thought of Veggie Markers.

I alternated between picking up and tossing the sun-dried sod and planted rows of yummies. But let's stick to the Garden. As I mentioned before, the Garden is 9x24 feet. The majority of the garden is 9x20 feet and at the Eastern end is a little triangle of sorts.


The first real row is carrots. We planted one packet so far and in two weeks we will plant another packet. Mom says that staggering the planting dates means we get a later harvest in the fall. I can already taste the fresh Carrot Cake, or cooked carrots, or fresh carrot shavings in my salad. Oh my word. I have to wait for all this good to Grow! The 2nd row is white onions. However, I am nervous about these. After the first watering, I saw 3 of 'em floating around. Not a good sign.


The Garden sits in my parents backyard, behind their little shop. At the Northern end of the Garden we moved an old wagon wheel (I think it's from my Grandpa VerBeek). There we planted 4 mounds of cucumbers. The vines will be trained to grow up the spokes which apparently makes for healthier, larger, and cleaner cukes. Perfect for my summer salad obsession.
The middle row is eggplant, red peppers and green peppers. The last 2 rows are a staggering of yellow beans. We really love yellow beans. I mean it. We love 'em. The little triangle at the Eastern end now holds my Summer Squash and Zucchini which I started from seed. Last year I learned the fine art of grilling and roasting veggies. I can't wait to snack on them!




I was going to use wooden rulers to mark the rows (until the veggies come up and we can remember. You know about my memory problems, right?), but Mom found these round wooden sticks. They came in handy twice. Once we used them to measure the distance between rows (forget about marking straight lines) and then again we marked them with what will eventually grow.





And this is my little 4x6 foot Condo Garden Box. About a month ago I planted Salad Bowl Lettuce, Endive, and Spinach. Look how pretty it is! And in the pots I am growing basil (sweet basil!), oregano, parsley, and rosemary.

When are you coming over for dinner?