Garden Plan

as of March 18 2012. I moved stuff around when I first planted the seeds this week so I'm sure it'll happen again. I'm also going to try interplanting so one square will have more than one type of vegetable. It's kinda difficult to see but you get the idea (you can also click on the picture to enlarge it). I'm using www.growveg.com's garden planner which I splurged and got a 2 year subscription to. It's been super helpful with planning though so I don't feel all that bad about the $40 that I spent.

What will the neighbors think?

Yesterday, I set up the frame for my climbing plants using branches from around my neighborhood. I stuck them as deep into the ground as possible and then anchored them to the raised beds using U-shaped thingies and too-long screws. Pictures to come later as I have been lazy about taking my phone out to snap them.

But while I was putting the frame together, two of my neighbors came over to check out what I was doing. I explained about the raised bed concept and square-foot gardening and they complemented how neat everything was. Yay! That's what I'm trying to do... to look less like the crazy person that I am attempting this gardening feat. Hopefully, things grow and there won't be too many diseases and pest problems so that I will be able to share the fruits of my labor with them.

Next up: Planting a tree and some small plants.

Side project: Wild birds

Bird bath and one bird feeder has also been set up in the front yard but so far no birds :(

The globe thing at the top is supposed to change colors at night. I let it charge yesterday and today, turned it on when I got home from work but nothing. Hoping that it's just because it's been overcast these two days.

Walla walla onions and more

Picked up a bunch of walla walla sweet onions today and planted 18 of them (2 squares). Also seeded 12 carrots (half a square), lettuce, spinach, kale and alyssum. Here's how it looks:

Wild birds and other pretty things

Now that my vegetable garden is moving from the planning stage to the doing stage, I'm switching gears to thinking about attracting birds and bats and butterflies and frogs and toads to our backyard. This will hopefully reduce the insect population around our house in the summer and will just be generally fun to watch.

Some useful websites:
http://www.birdsforever.com/pg000004.html
http://www.nwf.org/Get-Outside/Outdoor-Activities/Garden-for-Wildlife/Gardening-Tips/How-to-Attract-Butterflies-to-Your-Garden.aspx
http://www.a-home-for-wild-birds.com/upside-down-suet-feeder.html

Progress Report #1

in photos:

Bubs after a hard day's work putting the raised beds together.

Valentine's Day present from Ryan with the price tag still on :p

A slightly different angle.

Basil is at the back and cilantro in front.

And here are the raised beds made from wooden pallets. I'm super excited and proud about them. It took 4 trips to collect 6 wooden pallets of which I only used 3 for this project. Potential uses for the other 3 pallets include: picnic table, platform for firewood, platform for hay, compost bin and bunny/guinea pig run. Hmm... I might need more pallets

Close up of one of the 4x4 beds. I made two 4x4s and one 3x3 although they are a couple of inches short of the full length. Taking the pallet apart was the hardest part. I didn't really have to cut much except for the corner pieces that hold two boards per side. Those were cut 5-6 inches long from the remaining boards.

Potatoes! Boil'em, mash'em, stick'em in a stew! (LOTR, the movie) The two in the middle are halves of the adirondack blue and the ones at the end are kennebec. I started chitting  (look at me, I'm all smart!) them on Thursday night (3-8-12).

In the blue tub are leek seedlings and the two seedlings in the sour cream container are eggplants. I'm going to have to pick one of the two soon :(