Our Bountiful (hopefully) Summer

Helen and I are lucky enough to be renting a house with a bit of land that has, at various times, been considered a garden. Last year, I spent a good half of a day pulling shoulder-high weeds and tilling to turn it into a usable plot of land for tasty veggies. As neither of us had ever been the proud parents of vegetables before, and as we didn't start renting the place until June 1st - we just kind of threw stuff down into the ground without a rhyme or reason (other than what we wanted to eat) and we hoped for luck with what stuck.

Things turned out quite fortunately for us, as we had a bounty of cherry tomatoes and peppers last year, but little else. Our beets were over-watered, varmints ate many of our leafy greens and most of our herbs went unused or didn't survive the transfer to pots inside for the winter.

This year, things are different! Helen spent a good chunk of time this winter delving into books on gardening from the local library. Turns out, reading about optimal vegetable placement is a great break from dissertation work. From this research, and our vegetable preferences, she produced not one, but two(!) drafts of where (and when) we would plant our hopeful bounty. And so, come spring, armed with a map; grit and determination; potting soil; organic, composted cow poo; and a shit-ton of seed packets: we embarked on our epic (well, epic on a small scale) gardening journey.

We started growing flowers (Marigolds, Cosmos and Daffodils) indoors under clear plastic domes in March. These flowers are supposed to be particularly effective at warding off unfriendly invaders, like rabbits or ground hogs. We also started lettuce and arugula indoors- but those didn't take off all that well. That being said - the air in the bedroom we started the plants in was noticeably nicer to breathe.

Our first successful crop were snap peas. Pictured below. We started them in April, as they can take a frost, and soon we had little pea plants ready to climb. But, what were we to do - we had no trellis for them to climb upon. So, off we went to Downtown Home and Garden to pick up some 5' bamboo sticks and trellis netting. You can see the result below - it actually works quite nicely, very flexible and easy to position each pole by each pea plant. The peas are now going like gangbusters and they taste delicious! We also planted spinach in between the two rows of peas, and those have graced our plates on a few occasions - as has the arugula we started in mid spring.

We also planted onions and shallots in the back corner of the garden in April - these hardy fellows can also take a frost, and we look forward to pulling them out of the ground some day soon to use in, well just about everything we cook. An added bonus is that we can pull them early to use as green onions in stead of running off to the store to buy a whole bunch when we really only need two or three. Around the onions, we also planted two varieties of radishes and tasty tasty beets. The radishes are just starting to be ready to pull up, but the beets will take a while to mature - as the fast growing radishes ended up towering over the beets rather quickly. We hope they'll make some speedy progress as we pull up radishes and onions to eat. So, in our little 3' X 6' back corner, pictured below, we should have a bounty of onions, shallots, radishes and beets.

The rest of our planting had to wait until late May, when the last chance of frost had passed. However, we got a head start on a beans by planting seeds in peat cups indoors. These peat cups disintegrate after time in soil, so it was a piece of cake to plant 3 burgeoning bean plants around six 6' tall wooden stakes around the perimeter of the garden. The beans are now climbing nicely to the upper heights of each pole and many of them have started flowering. Also in the garden, but not pictured are a number of starter heirloom tomato plants and pepper plants that we bought at various plant sales in the area. Interspersed amongst these delicious (and currently fruiting and flowering staples) are a variety of herbs including cilantro, parsley, basil, oregano, thyme and mint. We've also been planting new rows of radishes, beets, spinach, lettuce and arugula every 3 weeks or so, so that we have a supply of leafy greens and tasty roots throughout the summer and fall.

So, that's the garden - but wait! We're not done. Along the side of the house are a couple of beds, previously over-run by irises and lilies. We dug up all the bulbs from one of them last summer, and have been using that as a carrot and garlic patch. By planting marigolds around the perimeter, we've mostly kept the local cat and rabbits from eating these morsels up. But why stop there? On the deck, we're growing 3 satellite squash plants and another tomato plant. And finally, during one of my parents' whirlwind visits to us- my mom brought us 4 little strawberry plants that transplanted wonderfully and give us tasty little sweet snacks.

Its been a wonderful experience to start gardening, and really, after everything is prepped and planted, we have a wonderful bounty that will keep us well stocked on fresh veggies throughout the summer and into the fall. We are both amazed by how much we were able to put into a 7' X 12' plot, and we look forward to applying the lessons learned in the years to come! Look for posts in the future detailing the results of our bountiful (hopefully) summer.