fenced off garden.jpg
2dogs+someCats wrote: ↑Sat Jan 05, 2019 11:46 am
Happy New Year Sandi!! I am so on the fence about a garden this year. Stay tuned...
I can be done entirely more frugally than DH wants to do it. He's going to build raised beds - with 14" cedar plank framing, of course
- , mulched walkways between, "good" dirt, a compost area, fence it all in (dog = not good for garden) and make it pretty, with arches for viney things to grow on.
We (by that I mean
he) start all our plants from seed. Under grow lights. In the house. Which is okay, it's not like the whole 'starter' contraption is on the dining table or anything, its just... intense. He monitors soil temperature. Later the plants get 'hardened off" - after he goes to work I take them outside for a little while to experience ambient temperatures and breezes, then bring them inside again overnight. Dozens of little green pets
until they're strong enough to be transplanted. Then he puts water-filled "teepees" around the tomatoes so they don't get killed by frost.
Its like... Seriously, in the old days when these heirloom varieties were just 'tomatoes' farmers stuck the seeds in some damp soil on a sunny windowsill at MOST, honey, then just planted them. And clearly THAT worked out...
But engineers do not make for laissez-faire gardeners.
Its the first growing season in this location. So he's starting off 'right.'
As long as it results in a whole lot of vine-ripened tomatoes and maybe a few squash, I'm good to go. Cucumbers and zucchini we will have to give away (stuff I have limited use for, DD makes pickles and I put some zucchini in the freezer for soups and breads, but those 2 things are always prolific), but I'd be thrilled to have about a dozen or so butternut squash to cube up and freeze.
I went to a couple farmers market style stands last year for tomatoes... Huge disappointment. Flavorless mush. So, it's either let him garden project-style or go without decent tomatoes forever
