My Garden Map

Okay people, even though I was waiting for the rapture as I was planting last weekend, I was confident I would be around with a few of my favorite people to enjoy the results of all this planting. 

I am almost done with gathering everything I want to plant.  This weekend I will finish up.  I am letting Alexa choose what she wants to plant in one of the boxes.  She shows a lot of interest in my gardening, so I think it will be a fun project for us to work on this summer.  I'm planning to take her to the farm to pick up the starts she wants to plant.  Like me, I think it will help for her to have some starts and some seeds to watch grow.  Starts make you feel like you already have something successfully growing, and us newbies need that.  

I got my plants or seeds from a few sources.  We have a wonderful farmer's market in downtown Vancouver about 2 miles from my house.  There is a local farm there, Millennium Farms, they use heirloom seeds that are not genetically modified.  I got several starts from them.  Then I ordered seeds from Territorial Seed Company.  Their seeds are not genetically modified, and their test garden is about a hundred miles south of me in Oregon, so I figure whatever they sell is likely to grow in my region as well.  To select the variety of seeds to buy, I referenced the book Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades, which was written by the founder of Territorial Seed, and the Maritime Northwest Garden Guide.  All of these resources were recommended by sources who have been gardening way longer than me. 

I've been stuck in a hotel room for the last two weeks for work.  Unfortunately for me, we have actually had some nice weather where I could have gotten out in the yard in the evenings.  It is killing me!  I am struggling to focus, cause I want to weed my yard.  Who'd have thought I would ever utter such words?  I get home tomorrow night, and won't be leaving town again for two weeks.  I am looking forward to Memorial Weekend to get out in the yard.  I think I'm going to have to get creative about keeping the birds out of my garden.  Maybe I'll buy one of those creepy owls? I also may rent a goat.  That's right, RENT a goat.  We have these noxious blackberry vines and I am starting to feel like I'm living in Jumanji.  Many people have recommended that I get a goat because they clear it up quickly, and blackberry vines make goat milk taste yummy.  Since I can't have dairy...this is tempting.  But I think Randy might kill me if I tell him I want a goat.  Besides, who the hell is going to milk the goat?  I don't see myself ever going there....So....we'll save that for next year.  For now, I'll just look into renting.....

Thanks for your comments and support everyone :)

The dirt on my dirt

I am SO not a gardening expert.  Not even close.  Where this new found need to cultivate comes from is anybodies guess.  But I've done a lot of reading, and research, and taken a few classes.  One of the most interesting things I have learned so far is that the soil you choose to garden in makes a HUGE difference in how your food tastes.  For those who know anything about gardening, you're thinking Duh!? But people, I was raised in suburbia with processed foods and the Reams produce section.  I didn't see my first beet until 2009, until then I thought they grew in Western Family cans.

That being said, two of my favorite reads on understanding the origin of your food is Barbara Kinsgsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and Michael Pollen's In Defense of Food.  They have provided this ignorant nutritionist a plethora of knowledge through their fascinating story telling.  Reading these along with a few others is my guess for where this garden fire in me got started.  

I was speaking with a gal the other day who was raving about garden tomatoes and cucumbers.  She said "I don't know why they taste so much better from the garden?"  I had to stop myself from giving her more information than she actually wanted.  I wanted to tell her about when food is grown at home you can control the soil, chemicals, and other additives to your food.  I wanted to tell her about how when we eat food that is actually in season and grown locally it actually has all the nutrients it is supposed to, which is why it tastes so amazing.  I have learned that through the beauty of science we have figured out how to grow food to look amazing.  Yet, it is always lacking in taste and nutrients.  Did you know that grocery stores will only accept produce that is a certain color, shape, and size?  Even if the nutrients in the crooked cucumber are the same as the straight one?  I stopped myself from going into this diatribe with her.  I kinda doubted she wanted to know the real reason why food from a home garden tastes SO much better than the impostors in the produce section in the middle of February. 

Next time you are in the produce section, I want you to notice something.  Isn't it strange how all the food is the same shape and size as all the others in their respective category?  All the carrots are the same width, length, and color.  All the green onions are laid out exactly the same length and each bulb is the same size as the next.  All the apples and oranges are the same shape and color, without a single blemish.
Don't get me wrong, this appeals to me too.  I love order and consistency like the next Obsessive Compulsive person.  But I have learned that in order for our produce section to look this beautiful, we waste a lot of perfectly good food, and we continue to be conditioned that this is normal. 
When I was in Jamaica last fall, I experienced some amazing food.  Each morning at the resort there was a beautiful breakfast spread with tons of fresh local fruits.  At the fruit buffet, I asked the woman what she was cutting up.  Oranges.  A fruit I'd eaten for 30 years.  But their skins were blemished, and the color was not the crayola orange color I was accustomed to.  She started to apologize to me that the produce in Jamaica is not as pretty as the produce in the U.S.  I stopped her right then and there and told her there was no apology necessary.  Wasn't I the ignorant one that couldn't classify an orange outside of a Safeway?  I explained to her that the chemicals applied to our foods were not to be coveted.  That the produce in Jamaica was amazing, and that I hadn't ever tasted such delicious oranges.  Because I hadn't!  They were juicy and delicious.  So what if they had a few blemishes?  Don't we all wish we were held to a more realistic standard?

So what kind of soil did I get you ask?  I had my soil delivered from McFarlane's Bark and got a 50% Fine Compost, 40% Screened Soil, 10% Sand mix called Scottish Blended Soil.  It is pitch black and full of manure.  Yummy.  I am trying to learn that manure is my friend.  And sometimes bugs.  I am such a city girl.
Anyway, here's hoping I am starting out on the right foot with the proper soil to feed my plants.  I had a guy today tell me I can grow anything out of soil so great.  Here's hoping dude. 

I find it oddly amusing that I had to read in a bunch of books that it should be unnatural for me to expect the produce to look exactly the same each time I buy it.  But, not to expect that for the taste.  

All Grown Up

Randy and I got married on March 28th.  We bought a house on March 31st, which happened to be my 30th birthday.  Yep, I went and became a grown up all in one week. 

When Randy and I got engaged last September, we had tentatively planned to get married in September 2011.  We started learning more about the housing market, and our ability to qualify for a home using Randy's VA loan.  The big surprise was that we learned that in order for us to use a VA loan and both be on the mortgage then we had to be married.  Sorry, but I'll be damned if I'm not going to get the credit for paying half the mortgage.  So, thanks to the US Military, Randy and I got hitched at a small little ceremony at the Clark County Courthouse in Vancouver Washington.  It was actually perfect.  Small, with a few of our friends and family, we were able to get married for $114.  Minimal planning, minimal drama, and all the fun and joy of a wedding day.

So now we are married.  And homeowners.  And I'm a step-mom.  Holy cow.  Things have gone smoothly, for the most part.  The most surprising thing has been the changes I feel about this house.  I seriously love it.  I am going to die in this house.  I don't want to leave, I don't want to go to work, I just find myself wishing there was more time to work on all the things I want to get done around here.  And I've realized I'm going to die in this house, because that is how long it will take me to get everything done I want to.

 My first order of business is getting in my garden.  Thankfully I have the hair stylist gift, because I am going to be pimping out my skills for trade for a long time.  I hit up my friend and Realtor Angi to see if her hubby would want to do trade and build my garden boxes.  Luckily Angi's husband loves her to be blonde, and therefore I got hooked up with some beautiful garden boxes.  And Angi will be getting her hair done for the next 6 months.  Ah, the barter system.  Gotta love it. 
Behold the garden boxes: 12 four foot by eight foot boxes that are 10 inches high. 

 And take a look at this giant pile of dirt delivered on April 29th 2011.  All 12 yards of it.

Here are the garden boxes with a layer of cardboard and hay to kill the grass and hopefully keep the weeds from coming up. 

And, after 96 wheelbarrows full, 8 for each box, here is my beautiful garden:

 And for the record, Randy helped with 36 of the 96 loads with the wheelbarrow.  My back hurts, but surprisingly it wasn't as hard on me as I thought it might be. 

I've been told that Mother's day is a great day to start the garden.  I got my onions and asparagus in today.  I planted red onions, walla walla sweets, big daddy yellows, and a mystery onion I got from a lady who gave me a bunch of stuff, including free dahlia tubers.

 I'm hoping the weather warms up this week so I can get the rest of my starts in next weekend before I have to leave town for a week for work. 

We have two trees in our backyard that started to bloom shortly after we moved in.  

I think the white blooms might be a cherry tree.  Not sure what the pink blooms will bring.....

 And check out this lone tulip that has bloomed in the junk area of our yard.  I think this is the part of the yard where the previous owners dumped their junk.

 This tulip has been blooming for three weeks now.  Amazing. 

I'm getting anxious for the weather to warm up a bit so that I can get all these starts planted that I have purchased!