Monday, May 26, 2008

Still Gardening without my SuperPowers!

You may have thought that I abandoned this blog but that is not the case. I have however, abandoned the idea that I am Superwoman and by doing so have given myself permission to focus on the big stuff right now and let all the small stuff wait. Unfortunately, compared to my Daughter's J.M.E. everything is small stuff.

That doesn't mean I've given up on gardening. No, I'm far too addicted for that! In fact, I've even expanded my gardens! Yes, it has taken me this long but I finally have my Vegetable gardens planted. Yeah, me!

But sadly, the grand plans and schematics that I had hoped for were scraped due to well...lack of time between Dr. appointments! After hours of back breaking work by my strongman hubby a plain lawn was transformed into 4 equal plots for veggies. Equal in size not in soil quality. The soil from one plot to another varied immensly from perfect topsoil to pure clay.

In the background you might recognize a rotatiller under that tarp. You may be thinking that my husband isn't the strong man I've discribed but I assure you he is! That Machine is the most contrary piece of gardening equipment to ever be invented! It ran well for about 2 minutes and then it would over heat. My hubby called it the "one row workhorse". You'd complete one row and then it would rest for 15 minutes before it would start again. So all in all, hubby did about 6 passes with the Machine and instead broke all that sod up with an old fashioned Maddox. What a Man! What a mighty fine man! All in all, it took him about 3 days of work. (Of course, with our schedules he did it over a two week time period.)

Then it was time to plant. At last!!! I was so proud to put in the peppers I had started from seed myself. They looked as good as the ones from the Backyard Farmer. While there I also purchased my onion sets. And as soon as I planted these prized possessions of mine I began to worry about a little creature I had seen in making his escape from my flower gardens just a few days before. Was I doing little more than setting up a free buffet for this cute vandal?
We've discussed fencing but we haven't gotten there yet...

After planting we carefully laid out our new watering system. We attached a 100 foot regular garden hose to our water spicket. At the other end we attached a four way splitter to which we attached four Seeper flat soaker hoses (by Gilmour Gardening Innovation from Wal-Mart for approx $13 per 75 foot hose). With one easy step I can now water all four gardens without wasting water, energy, or time (which is highly prized at this point). My new gardens are now ready. But will they grow?



4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry to hear about your daughter's illness. It must be very worrying and distressing. I know very little about these things but I did see a film recently that was about a family whose son had something similar and in the end they put him on a diet which did wonders. I have recently heard something on the news that this is beginning to be taken more seriously - just a thought. Best wishes

B said...

It looks like you and your husband have put a lot of work into your garden. I know it will grow to be beautiful even if it isn't as lush or complicated as you first planned.

I tell myself I'm on a multi-year plan. While I would love to grow all my favorites and have a beautiful space I'm still figuring it all out.

Sometimes grace is a wonderful thing to have. Sometimes I have to remind myself how many years I have to get this all right. ;)

Prayers and good thoughts to you and your daughter.

Robin's Nesting Place said...

Your garden is looking great! I've missed your wonderful posts, but you have your priorities in order; good for you! I hope your daughter is doing better and that things settle down for you soon.

Unknown said...

Thanks all! It's been busy but we are finding enjoyment whenever/wherever we can. Thanks again.