Gardening Success - Six Weeks After Planting

Two little gardeners with their pride and joy beds!

What a fun six weeks it has been.  Most evenings the twins would join me outside after dinner - to both examine the beds, water the crops, and to answer some of their very perplexing questions, such as:

- Two days after planting - Why aren't the tomatoes ready yet?
- Do we need a cage to catch the squirrels who eat our strawberries?
- Why can't I I use my spade and garden tools to dig up dirt every night?
- Will I start to like radishes if we grow them at home since I have always hated the ones from the store?
- I promise to try some of our onions IF you please let me water the garden tonight all by myself.... :)

Gardening Update - The Plants are IN!

This weekend was all about two things.  Gardening and moms J

Since I’m going to be gone all this coming week for NASCC: The Steel Conference, in Pittsburgh – and next weekend we’ll be in Dekalb for little Wessie’s college graduation from NIU – and the weather was forecasting extreme warmth and no chance of frost at all – we decided it was time to plant the garden.

Saturday morning I went and visited my local organic gardener:  Bloomberg Gardens, and bought the following plant starts:

• Cilantro
• Oregano
• Jalapenos
• Chives
• Broccoli
• Lettuce varieties (Merlot, Caesar/Romaine, Green Oak Leaf, Kale, Spinach, Red Leaf)
• Grape and cherry tomatoes.

As I mentoned before, I already had green pepper and large tomato plants compliments of the Lincolnwood FFA chapter, so this was a great start.  Once I had all the starts I could find from them, I went to my home-away-from-home, Home Depot, and bought organic plant seeds and a couple more starts to complete the rest of the garden:

• Sweet Corn
• Peas
• Pole Beans
• Cauliflower
• Cabbage
• Asparagus
• Onions
• Radishes
• Carrots
• Cinnamon Basil
• Cucumbers
• Strawberries

….which also led to the need for tomato cages, trellises, and garden ties.  So…after 4-5 hours of ‘out and about’, we were finally ready to plant!

We decided to mark off 15” x 15” squares on the perimeter frames of our raised beds (we were too scared for a true ‘square foot’ grid our first year.  Remember, our only gardening experience prior to this was back home, where land was of the essence and you NEVER compacted your planting….so one small step at a time).  Starting at the north end of the beds with our tallest and cage varieties (sweet corn, pole beans, cucumber, peas, tomatoes) and working south to the smallest of lettuce and root vegetables, we worked square by square to get everything in – both me and my small helpers. 

Suburban Gardening - Our first steps

Nearly two years ago when our townhouse was for sale, I had some pretty specific requirements:  Sell this to buy a REAL house....with a yard the kids can run crazy in and I can build gardens and plant flowers wherever I want.  This may seem like a standard wish or requirement for most people. BUT, not in a townhouse that is run by a homeowner's association that doesn't allow fences, personal children's playgrounds, or gardens.  Really, no customization of any kind.  Period.  When we were the standard DINKs (Double Income No Kids) in town, it was perfect.  We spent most of our time working, playing sports in the city, and didn't want to spend any of our own time actually maintaining our property such as landscaping and snow removal.  Again, it was perfect.  But....as what normally happens when you have children, our perspective changed.

As soon as the twins were old enough to crawl and soon run, the exterior of my home became nearly as important as the inside of my home.  Inside, we finished our basement and added a toy room.  Outside, our hands were tied.  There was a large common yard, but no personal space.  Our daughter once even fell down a neighbor's window well.  Yep, that was the straw that broke the camel's back.  No privacy.  No security. No safety.  And again....no ability to plant a garden and customize anything we wanted.  At one time in our lives, this was perfect - but by today, it wasn't for us anymore.

So luckily, we sold our townhouse and bought a 'real' house.  You know, one with our own walls, a yard we and we alone were responsible for, and one in which we owned a yard as far as the eye could see....where we could do whatever we wanted!  The first year we owned the home, we closed on it mid summer and didn't have a full growing season to take advantage of.  Therefore, 2011 was decided on to be 'our year'.