Monday, May 16, 2011

Seeds are In!

Aren't those beautiful garden gloves!?  I hated to get them dirty.  I cringed when I first stuck them in the dirt.  And they were FREE!  The original Ace price was $9.49.  The sale price was $2.99 with a $2.99 rebate.  Score - I must be a daddy's girl - I am learning to like Ace too!  I also purchased the cheapest digger-thing I could find.  Brian teased me and repeatedly and humorously corrected me, "It's called a spade."  Well, when Al, our church friend who is married to an experienced gardener, stopped by with a spade, it look very flat and spade-ish...nothing like my digger-thing.  So, alas, Brian...I still call it a digger-thing.  And it works.  For digging and planting.  Which is exactly what I used it for.

Last Friday, after a nice elder from church hauled his tiller to town to till our garden, my men and I got to work.  

Aidan and I gearing up to plant.  Doesn't he look thrilled?  I don't either, but I was.  Looks can be deceiving.
 Aidan had the perfect viewing spot.  Comfortable too!

'Hurry up, Mom!  I want to see some digging!'
 Unfortunately, the pictures of the gardener (me!) in action (taken by Brian) came out in a .NEF format.  I googled that and found out that I'll need Photoshop or something to read them.  Bummer!  [I am such a novice at everything in my life now: mothering, gardening, sewing, quilting, cooking, blogging, photography...I am easily overwhelmed by all I need to learn...such as how NOT to take pictures that turn out in .NEF.  Ah well.]  But I'm glad the pictures of Aidan's gardening excitement (read the sarcasm) turned out.
He's thrilled.
Because I am such a novice, it was Divine Sovereignty that Al & Marian happened to stop by the church while I was planting.  When I asked for advice from these long-time farmers, Al told me to plant the tomotoes on the east side - where I'd already planted nine rows of lettuce.  Well, three rows of Vivian lettue, three rows of Romaine and two rows of spinach.  Oh, and a few rows of Swiss chard.  Hmmm...any other advice, Al?  Not to plant the beans yet.  It's too cold.  Ooops.  Beans are in.  Peas are too.  So are the beets and onions.  What did I do correctly?  Spacing (yes, I did read the instructions on the package.).  I also left the tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers in the crate-things (in the house!).  Whew.  Marian said not to put those out until Memorial Day.  I can handle that.  I think.
This domesticity might kill me.  Everyone is shocked at how much I planted.  I think they know how much work it involves.  I have no clue.  Maybe I'll end up so overwhelmed, I'll just mow it over.  Or maybe my husband will finally love tomatoes since I planted 9 plants and Al recommended only 2.  Hmmmm....we shall see what summer brings.  Did I mention I've killed every house plant I've ever owned except one?  The garden should be scared...for it's life, literally.
Gorgeous tulip.  In our yard!  I had nothing to do with it.  It just popped up.  Kinda like Aidan's tooth.

1 comments:

Davene Grace said...

Reading this put a smile on my face! My husband is from California; but now that we live on my homeplace in the countryside of Virginia, he's learning to love gardening, too. It's a steep learning curve when you don't grow up with it.

Have fun with your 9 rows of lettuce! I hope you know A LOT of people that you can share it with. :)

Your garden looks great, and I have a feeling it won't take you long at all to become a pro. :)