May 23rd, 2005 - My garden’s in!
Sorry for not posting at all over the last week. My parents and brother were visiting after Maggie’s baptism (for which my mother-in-law and her mother an an aunt, uncle, and cousin were in town for the weekend).
My parents help me put in the garden! Dad installed a gutter with my help; the back end of the garage has a roof that drains directly into the garden. There was always a line of rocks where the water hit the dirt. On Wed, we prepped the ground (need some leveling, marked out the two beds, raked in compost/manure) and planted potatoes. On Friday, Mom and I planted greens, corn, onions, carrots, basil, cabbage, and chickpeas. Dad got the chain link fence down at the far end where I’ll put in the compost piles. (We never got around to putting in the wire for it; I’ll do that later this week I hope.) They suggested a late attempt at spouting the cherry tomatoes, pumpkins, and summer squash, so I put those in plastic cups in the kitchen window on Saturday. I’ve always said I had no place to do seedlings–we have two cats and two dogs and the only place they can’t get to is a north-side room. Dad suggested the window over the sink–although we’ve found Sith (male cat) up there twice, it’s only been twice in 2.5 years so it seems safe. Plus, Shmi (female cat) is more likely to try to eat plants than he is. On Sunday, I planted three violas (a type of pansy); they are in full bloom but I hope they bloom again when I have greens for a pretty salad addition.
I can’t wait for things to start popping up!
Mulch: I’m a big fan of mulching to reduce the need for weeding. We did this as a kid and I can’t understand people who don’t do it. The only problem: We have a mulching lawnmower, so there’s no need to bag our grass clippings. Plus, we can’t use clippings from the back since the dogs poop there. So even if we did bag, it would just be a little bit from the front yard. We have some non-mowable areas, but not enough to mulch the entire garden. Dad gave me an idea last winter: Use shredded paper. I was already shredding financial papers and I added in everything else that wasn’t glossy and didn’t have glassine windows. Mom noticed one problem however: It’s very white. Which means the sun is being reflected instead of absorbed. Currently, that means the ground won’t warm up as well. Later on, it will mean more sun/heat on the new plants. (Luckily, some areas have concentrations of shreddings from phonebooks, which are darker.) So I’m trying to find enough grass materials to lightly cover the whitest parts. Not sure what I’ll do later in the summer when I need to refresh the mulch. Maybe I’ll not cut down some of the non-mowable areas until absolutely necessary.