The Garden Gets Hosed

This weekend was a productive one and Craig was busy in the garden. Our plans for gardening were just some maintenance that ended up in additions. No, we did not plant any new veggies (although we looked and the late fall plants are not available yet), but we did change the way the garden was watered.

We knew that next spring when we plant tomatoes and other similar veggies that we would need to ensure that the watering was only on the roots and not the leaves, (again, thanks to Ray for the tid-bits of info) so yesterday, after having a fun family breakfast, we set off for Lowes. We bought 50' of soaker hose and 4 cubic feet of additional garden soil.

Surveying the garden when we got home, I realized that if we were going to lay the soaker hose, we needed to at least clear the back bed closest to the house. Otherwise, come spring, we would have to take out the hose to clear it when we wanted to plant. It just made sense to go ahead and do it now - in 98 degree weather with no cloud cover...  My husband actually asked me why it is that I always choose to do manual (yard) labor when it is smoldering outside.  I didn't have an answer then, and I still don't now. 

So I cleared the bed. Since it was the back bed up against the house, and fearing that I might hurt the beds that were already planted, I used a hand trowel and a hand cultivator instead of the shovel to pull the remaining grass and weeds. Thankfully the strong grass and weed killer that my husband had sprayed before the garden was even started, worked great and the brown strands that remained were fairly easy to dig up and remove. 

Of the 4 beds, this most recent was the easiest. I'm not sure if this is because I used hand tools over the shovel, if it was the complete death of the grass, or the very real fact that I am getting pretty good at this digging thing that made the difference. For whatever reason it went quickly and after a short break, Craig brought out the hose and we started to lay it out. 

To look at the rolled hose you would think "That is not going to anywhere near long enough" and I said that to my husband who offered to run back to Lowes to get more. It was a good thing that I didn't take him up on that offer. When you get 50' of hose all unrolled and laid out you realize... that is a $^&! load of hose. Once Craig and I got ourselves untangled from the clutches of the hose, we placed it in the beds and around as much of the plants that we could without smashing them. 

It took us a while to get it laid where we thought it would do the most good and soak the roots of all the plants. Craig was a great micro manager. He would instruct me where to place the hose, walk over and say: "Hummm, I don't know Momma". I had to laugh, because frankly, I didn't know if it was right either. 

There is one problem with that back bed being empty and with the hose laid in it. There is nothing, as we found out with our first test run, to soak up the water in that back corner of the garden. It doesn't help that my loving bulldog, in an attempt to stay cool in the southern heat, had dug out a hole in the very back right corner and with all the grass and weeds gone, it becomes a small swimming pool. Great for frogs but worries me about mosquitoes. What I did find however, is that the pool was not there long and it was absorbed within 15-20 min by the bare ground. 

With the hose in place we set out to fill up the beds to the levels they are supposed to be and to cover the hose with the garden soil. This is absolutely Craig's favorite part of gardening. He loves playing in the dirt. Perhaps when he gets to pull up the grown vegetables he will find another favorite part, but for now, if it has to do with the soil, digging in it, dumping and spreading it out, anything, he is all in it. I'm lucky if he lets me help. 

Adding Soil To Cover The Hose

Filling The Beds

Spreading The Soil

With the hose in place, covered, and the beds full, Craig and I stood back to admire our now irrigated, in our own very minor way, garden. 

It was time for the second test run of our new watering system, that and I wanted to make sure that enough water would make it to the plants through the extra soil. While I was worried about the plants not getting enough water, Craig was concerned about too much. He has only known hoses to produce relatively strong streams of water and he thought that was what would be coming from the hose we had just placed. 

"Momma", he said very seriously, " won't the hose shoot the vegetables into the air? They're just babies and won't know to hold on to the ground."

A lot of times his innocence and kind-hearted nature makes me stop and smile. This was definitely one of those times. I explained to him that the hose was a different type than the one we had been using, and that this hose would be very gentle to our "baby" veggies. 

Where we are now

The lettuce, mint, oregano, and basil are doing well. Actually, the lettuce looks really good. All but one of the plants have really taken off and look strong and healthy with beautiful, large green leaves. The one basil plant that we were worried about has rebounded nicely, and the mint and oregano have new growth and look like that may be expanded a little bit. The lettuce should be ready in about 4-6 more weeks or so. The leaves (according to a local extension office) are too young. They would likely be bitter. 

The basil and mint however can be used now. The mint smells wonderful and as soon as the evenings are cool enough to warrant hot tea, we will use it! The Greek oregano is not ready yet as it will actually produce buds on the plant. I have no idea how much time is left before we should see that. 

The broccoli and turnips look good as well. They are a week behind the others, but they look to be establishing themselves well. I think we are still out a good 1-3 months (broad range I know, but all the info I have is so conflicting) from anything that Craig can get in there and harvest. He is so excited about broccoli, and he still swears that I loves turnips... Guess we will see if that is really true in a few months. 

On a sad note...

Well, it's sad for me. Most know that I love frogs (and toads), so you can image my guilt now that I am sure I have caused neurological damage and/or blindness to an innocent toad.

I was using some roundup around the outside of the railroad ties to ensure that nothing would creep into the garden beds. I had lifted one of the ties and was lightly spraying under it. The toad was buried into the ground under the tie, and my approach must have made him look up. I didn't see him until he began flailing his front little legs and frantically wiping his eyes and face.

 I went to get some water to wash his little body, but when I got back from the back porch with my water glass he had moved into the center of the newly cleared bed, looking normal. I poured a little water on him (mainly I wanted to make sure he wasn't dead) and he hopped toward the side of the house. 

I breathed a sigh of relief. At this point I convinced myself that he was going to be just fine, and that maybe it was not a direct hit with the chemical. I watched as he approached the house and jumped squarely into it.  He bounced off the house and he changed his direction to move towards the porch. He took one small hop forward. Then one to the right, and then another to the right. Then one forward, followed by one to the left. If I didn't know better I would have thought this little toad had been out on an all night bender. 

If you ever wondered if amphibians can stumble, we now have the answer - yes. So assuming that the toad has survived the last 48 hours, my guess is he is either blind, suffering neurological problems, or both. So sad and I feel awful. 

A New Row Has Been Hoed

It was another warm, but beautiful morning and afternoon today and Farmer Craig decided that he wanted to add another row of veggies to the garden. So off to Walmart we went to see if they had something different than Lowes. They did! Craig has wanted to plant broccoli since he first started talking about the garden, but Lowes didn't have any starter broccoli plants. Walmart, however, did have some so we bought a set of 6, (along with some turnip plants - Craig's choice. I'm not sure he knows what he chose as I know he has never had one - Mainly because his father and I don't like them at all) and we headed back home to dig, fill, and plant more of the garden.

New Center Row
Back 6 plants - Turnips / Front 6 plants - Broccoli

Craig decided that he wanted to clear out the center of the garden instead of either side. This is where I came in. I get to do all the manual labor. Just as with the first two rows, I used a shovel to clear off the grass, removing as much of the root system as possible.

Since this new bed was in the middle of the older two, I thought that one long railroad tie would serve as a better bed end that having 3 separate pieces. This is a great idea, but the ties are 8' long each and I only needed 7' (aprox). So I had the fun of cutting through one of the wooden ties with a handsaw. Why you ask, did I use a handsaw and not a power tool? The answer to that is a simple one. I like my fingers and hands. My husband is wonderful with the power tools and cutting devices, I however see massive problems if I were to attempt it, so I used the handsaw and almost an hour later I cut through the very thick railroad tie. Hey, It's good exercise for my arms...At least that is what I told myself.

After the tie had been cut to the length that I needed I placed it at the end of the now three beds, and again using Miracle Grow top soil for vegetables and flowers, we filled the new row. Craig is now becoming a master planter and was in charge of digging the holes, removing the plants from the containers, placing them in the holes, and covering them with the soil. He did it all himself and the pride shone across his dirt smeared face.

Proud Lil' Gardener

Next came the watering of the newest row. Craig loves to water and now has the flow of water under control. He no longer beats the plants down with a super strong stream of water.

We finished up watering and picking up the trash around the garden and headed into the house to clean up. No sooner had we come inside than the thunder began. Loud and close we knew that rain was on the way and chances are it was not going to be a nice soft one. We were right, it poured! All I kept thinking was that I hoped we had planted the new veggies deep enough to not float out of the ground. Craig (and I) have worked so hard today, I knew it would upset him.

Thankfully, Craig did a great job getting the holes deep enough and packed them in well enough that they looked just as good after the downpour as they did before it!!

Perky Lettuce, Droopy Basil

Well it has been almost a week that Farmer Craig and I have been farming Craig's veggies. At first we were afraid that the lettuce was not going to pull through, but over the last week, it has really rebounded!! The time it takes to produce a head of lettuce is supposed to be about 3 months, so we have 2 months and 3 weeks left before we will know if we have had any success. As for now, the lettuce plants look good and that is encouraging.

The majority of the spices look pretty good too, with the exception of one plant of basil. It began to look droopy and wilted about 2 days ago. We were running late and we did not water the garden that morning. I figured that since we had given it a good soak the night before, that the plants would be OK until that evening. That was true for all but one basil plant. That evening when we got home, it looked like it had been beaten down by the sun. The second basil looked ok, just a little dry. There was little to no change in the mint or oregano plants. We watered the garden and hoped for the best. Over the last 2 days it has rebounded slightly, and I am thinking that it may be OK, but we will just have to wait and see.

To Water or Not to Water, That is the Question...
Since Craig and I are so very new at this, we have no idea when the proper times are to water our garden and how much water it really needs. Obviously as we found with the basil, we have to water the plants first thing in the morning to sustain them, but the question becomes: should we be watering them when we get home in the evenings as well? For the last 2 days (since the almost loss of the poor basil plant) we have been watering both in the early mornings and early evenings. So far it looks like it is keeping them healthy.

Maybe the full sun that they sit in for the majority of the day dries out the ground enough that they need both. My only worry is that it is too much water and that they may become sick from being too saturated.

We have tried to find information online about when the right times to water the garden are and how much to use, but the information is so conflicting. I think it may be time to call and ask Ray (our close friend and farming expert) what he thinks.

First Day After Planting

Craig's labor day today started out with just that - labor. We woke up this morning and the first thing that Craig wanted to do was go out and look at his garden. I think he wanted to make sure that it was still there. We both slept like rocks after spending all day yesterday creating his garden, and so maybe he thought it had all been a dream. My sore muscles this morning are proof that it was definitely not a dream.

Craig's initial attempt at watering this morning were a little too strong!

After breakfast I let Craig know that he needed to water his garden. "Why?" he asked. I told him that just like he needs water to keep his body healthy, the vegetables needed water to be healthy and grow. He thought about that for a minute and then looked at his left over french toast from breakfast. "Momma, I think the vegetables are hungry too. I think they would like to have my french toast." He was a serious as a heart attack, and I couldn't help but smile. I explained to him that the plants had food in the dirt we planted them in and in a few weeks we would give them some special water with food in it.

So he went out to water the garden. It took a few tried for him to realize that he didn't have to shoot a strong stream of water at each plant, but he got it, and again had as much fun watering himself as he did the plants!

Craig got the hang of watering and gave all veggies a good long drink!

How did the veggies look this morning?
The veggies looked good this morning. After we initially planted the iceberg lettuce they looked pretty droopy. I was a little worried that maybe they wouldn't make it. Craig had tried to be as careful as he could be, but he is 4 after all. However, the lettuce had perked up this morning and looked healthy - from what I know of growing lettuce that is, which admittedly is not much. After Craig's watering, however, they looked a little beat up. Hopefully they will recover.

The Garden is Alive!

It took the majority of the day today, but Craig (and his mom) finished creating his starter garden in the backyard. Although it is currently small in the number of actual plants that are planted, there is much room to grow and the ideas are endless!

Who's in charge of this project?

Craig  = Age 4

Melissa (Craig's Mom) = Age 32

Just how was it created? I know that you are thinking you would love a step-by-step explination, so rather than keep you wondering here is what we did today :)

• Yesterday, Craig's Dad had sprayed the area of the soon-to-be garden with weed killer to kill off the majority of grass and weeds in the area.
• Then this morning Craig and Mom made a trip to Lowes to buy the supplies that were going to be needed: Miracle Grow Topsoil for Vegetables and Flowers, Galvanized metal fencing, Fencing posts, basic garden tools, wire cutters, and of course starter vegetable plants. (We already had the railroad ties that we used for the boarders of our raised beds.)
• Using a hoe and a shovel we cleaned off all the grasses and weeds from two 8' long and 3.5' wide strips (getting as much of the root systems as possible). 
• Then we placed the railroad ties along the sides of our now cleaned off strips of ground. After the ties were placed the strips now are 8' long and 2.5' wide for the actual growing space. 
• Next we filled the newly formed beds with the Miracle Grow Topsoil for Vegetables and Flowers.
• Digging the holes was next on the to-do list and Craig is a Master Hole Digger! 
• After the holes were dug, Craig gently took the plants from their pots and placed them into the holes he dug, covered up roots, and filled in the rest of the hole with the soil. 
• Then we gave the plants a good long drink with the water hose, although Craig got as much water or himself as he did the plants!

Row on the left hand side is Iceberg lettuce & on the right
starting at the top: Basil (x2), Mint (x2), Geek Oregano (x2)

• The fencing was next. Since we created the garden in a corner of our yard where the house and the porch meet, 2 sides of the garden were already "fenced". So we placed a post at the corner of the house and the porch and then one more to complete our square shape. We also placed another post about 4' from the outside corner post along the fence line to create an entrance to our garden.
• We then formed the fence around the posts and created a make-shift gate from a section of extra of fencing. 

The gate to our garden is hard to see, but there is a section
of fencing that opens toward you between the two posts
on the front side of the fence. 

Voila, Farmer Craig's Garden Was Born!!!!

So why the fencing?
Since Craig's garden is in the backyard, you may be wondering why we fenced it in. The answer is simple: Dogs. We have 2 large dogs that make it their mission to explore every thing in the yard, and if they were to get into the plants there is a good chance they would tear the beds up.

So what's next?
Since we left so much open space: an area up against the house, between the front bed and fence, and also the section between the two beds. Hopefully we will add some more fall/winter plants this season to at least the middle section, however if we don't, we absolutely will this spring to make room for tomatoes!

We do not have any plans to plant in the area that extends from the gate to the corner of the house. We have decided to leave it this way so that when we need to get in and out of the garden we will not be walking all over and dragging things through the growing plants. There is always the option to plant a small strip along the left side of the fence, that would keep the majority of the walkway open, however at the moment we are not thinking this is something we will do.

The current size of the overall garden is a good size for Craig to take care of as we both begin learning how to care for and grow vegetables. We have quite a bit of fencing that is left over (since we had to buy a roll of 50'), so should we want to expand the overall size of the garden in the future, we have the ability.