How Does Your Garden Grow?

I have to confess I'm not a great gardener nor do I have a 'green thumb,' but I try to put in some vegetables and flowers each year. A few more then the previous year once I get an idea of what I can handle at canning time, then I'll stop expanding the garden. Last fall (2008) was my first big canning event and it was really a stress-filled occasion for me. I just about called the entire process 'over' before I had even started. I was really nervous of making a mistake and having someone get sick from my batch of preserved foods. I'll get more into canning and how I got over my anxiety in a separate article, today the plants are still seedlings in the garden and that's the topic of the day.


The area where I have my garden is very rocky, so much so that a small patch of earth (about 4' square) yielded enough small rocks to make a pathway to my composter.





Tips for watering delicate seeds and seedlings: I spray on the fence and allow the water to trickle down or gently spray toward the seedlings. This allows them to get wet, without the force of a direct spray which erodes the soil and uproots the tiny plants. If a fence is not near the seedling, hold a small board in place and get the run off spray coming in the right direction. I've noticed that a gentle mist is what some plants need to get established.


Re Use in the Garden
You'll note in the photograph, the skids and tires in the garden.
The skids were obtained from a roofing contractor who just disposes of them when he has completed a job. My son is always on the lookout for materials which can be reused in new ways; he had the skids dropped off last fall and they work very well as a divider between properties and for climbing vegetables too.

The tires were left from a previous tenant (you can also obtain these at a recycling depot or garage in some areas). To make a composter, simply cut the side walls from the tires. Dig a small hole (this is for the worms to have easy access to the composter) and to make it stable it sits in the hole just slightly. Don't try to bury the sides of the bottom tire, it's just to keep the tires from tipping too easily. Place a second tire with the side walls removed, on top of the first. We use a piece of plexi glass [not shown in this photograph] to cover the composter and retain heat, (also a reclaim of my son's from a restaurant closing, they held their menu boards and posters in the plexi glass).

Total cost of the composter: my time to cut side walls and dig a small hole, no out of pocket expenses. Total cost of garden divider and climbing area for peas and beans: only time to construct the area out of two skids and no out of pocket expenses. (Nails for the garden divider-climber were bought at a yard sale and cost very little).