Hands in the Dirt

Almost any garden, if you see it at just the right moment,

can be confused with paradise. 

-Henry Mitchell

It is official. The flurry of putting all the plants in the garden is done! Before I left for the coast, the weather was too cold, and then in days, it was time! Indeed, the season was shortened with the insistence of winter wanting to stay on, so when there was the opening, there was no time for hesitancy. While I was gone, most of the gardens got planted. I finished mine in May, barely; I planted it on May 31st.

I have dedicated my small plot of land to vegetables, with some flowers to attract bees. Though my garden is not done in the Intensive Gardening style, it has some of the earmarks. The tomato plants are planted in groups of two, fairly close together, the same varieties clumped together. The plants with seeds have very close rows with little room for walking between. 

This year, I measured the plot space - it is 5.5 feet by 12 feet. What is planted this year is:

- 14 tomato plants (let's just say that I was inspired)

- 4 cucumbers

- 4 celery

- 4 orange peppers

- 1 row of carrots

- 1 row of romaine lettuce

- 3 rows of beets

- 1 row of spinach

- 1 row of leaf lettuce plants

- marigolds (to repeal the insects away from the tomatoes)

- snapdragons

Here it is:

The cucumbers are delighted because (a) there has been nothing but sunshine and heat since they went into the ground, and (b) the fence that fell down with the winter snow was not put back up. 

Most of the flowers and strawberries have been put in pots on the patio. Out of the 10 strawberry plants that came from the greenhouse, only 2 have survived (that had to do with the hot time when I was on the coast). That same greenhouse (I actually got my plants from 6 places altogether) had this beauty...



This is the fifth year I have planted a garden on this plot of land, and looks like the best to date. And I am not the only one who thinks so; there are a lot of birds that I have seen hopping all over the tamped area. Hmmm.... Probably time to go dig out those extra seeds.