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Friday, March 26, 2010

Starting a Garden!

Gardening

I thought it would be a fantastic idea to start a garden, for many reasons.


FRESH PRODUCE- I don't think you can get any fresher produce than picking it out of your own back yard! Plus, I am going to need it for Phoenix's baby food that I am going to make...yes, I said make! :) (Thank you Jenna Fell for the inspiration and encouragement to make his baby food when everyone else is telling me I am a moron!)

CHOICES-You can choose what you want to grow. As of now I have several ideas of things I would like to plant and grow, if I could, I would plant EVERYTHING! But sadly I have to make some type of choices!

ITS A LEARNING PROCESS- Not only is this a learning process for me, but for the kids as well. We will be deciding what to plant together, and taking care of the garden together as well. This means watering, weeding, planting and so forth.

DAY 1- I have picked a spot for my garden in the back yard. It measures 7x20. Not too big, but just big enough. I spent about 5 minutes spraying down the dirt so I can dig it all up to start getting to soil ready for planting. Then, I spent an hour overturning the dirt in the first 12 feet...it was just me and the shovel. Good times! In the process of the grueling work, Eireland joined me by helping to break up the big dirt chunks and Tristan, well...he got his own shovel and helped me 'dig'. In the process of digging, I believe I disrupted a critters home, either a bunny or a snake. I would LIKE to think it was a bunny, because that would be less creepy than a snake, but in reality, I do not think a bunny would fit in the 2 inch hole that I destroyed! Poor snake, he needs to find a new home! I was too tired to finish the other 8 feet so I decided to save it for later. After I dug, I sprayed the ground again to wet down

Earlier in the day Eireland and I went to Target to pick up a few things, and we picked up our first pot and package of seeds. We decided to plant tomatoes, and since our garden is not ready, they are perfect to start because they need to be started indoors. So, after all of the digging that Eireland and I did, we decided to plant tomatoes in our pots.

Our garden is now more than half way dug up and the tomatoes are planted! :) We are on a roll!
Now that we have the measurements for our garden, we need to decide what we want to put in there. I know that we want to put corn, tomatoes, herbs, bell peppers, zucchini, carrots, lettuce, pumpkins, watermelon and cantaloupe in it, but not sure what else!

To help me figure out how to do all of this, I have joined 2 groups on Cafe Mom and I have found this Organic Gardening website. Over the past 2 days (since I decided I am going to HAVE a garden I have poured over this site!) I am not sure if the garden will end up being 100% organic...I mean who can resist trying Miracle Grow with all of those amazing promises that they make? But hey, we are going in the right step towards healthier, more eco-friendly and more natural! :) Score one for me!

With that, day one comes to a close!

Progress

The dirt patch...half way done! TONS of work! LOL!



THEDirtPatch

The dirt patch half way done at the end of day 1! SOOOO TIRED...oh yeah, and the dog!



P.S. Just an FYI here and there I will include links in my posts! Those links will be BOLD and in Italics! :) For instance in this post there are 2 links: Baby Food and Organic Gardening. Hope this helps you out!

6 comments:

  1. OmGOSH....I see now why you were so sore! That's a lot of work girl! Great job!!!

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  2. LOL! Hope! I did work hard! That dirt is HARD too! LOL! Even after spraying it several times...we live in the desert you know...It is now all done and dug up. Day 2 will be posted tomorrow!

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  3. Way to go Rhiannon!! I am so glad you started a blog on this. That way when we are ready I have some pointers. :)

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  4. you go girl...that is alot of stuff to plant!!

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  5. Rhi...I have a question for you...when you said you were starting your tomatos indoors I know you bought the seeds and not the starter plants but my sister just bought the starter plants for her Topsy Turvey but said that they are to small to put in it right now. I told her to start them in a pot indoors...she can do that right...till they get bigger??? And if she does what type of soil would she use??? Reg plant soil???

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  6. Dana, is she looking to grow organic or just regular tomatoes. (I am attempting to go organic...so I bought the USDA certified organic seeds) Anyhow, so I used an organic potting mix that I purchased at Lowes (even though lots of people suggest supporting local nurserys, and next time I will.)

    My parents got a Topsy Turvey, and I looked at it, and it seems as though you are right in the information that you gave her. Have her start them inside for a while until they get big enough then transplant them using the same soil. :) Good Job Dana!

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