Let The Gardening Adventure Begin: Chapter 2

It is a little later in the Summer than I would have liked to begin planting our first edible garden, and I bet there will be lots of amusing lessons in store.  My friend Bill said not to expect too much from the garden in the first year.  He said the plants will test my resolve and that I may find myself questioning whether to try again next year.   Let us see...

When starting to plan, my husband and I debated what would be the best plants to include in our first garden.  These included "Midnight Snack Cherry" tomatoes, "Foodie Fresh Summer Sandwich" tomatoes, and Italian parsley.  We lastly picked up an unidentified green pepper that was unmarked, so the cashier rang it up as a "Fresno Chili."  It already had one small green pepper on its vine that we hope will become a bell pepper, but we'll see what it ends up producing.  The colorful names of these plants made me smile.

Finally it was time for me to live out my gardening fantasy. We gently dug holes about the size of the plants' containers, loosened the roots at the bottom of each plant, then gently placed them into holes that were spaced about 18 inches apart.  Augi showed me how to press down at the base of the stem and then fashioned circular mounds of earth around each to help collect rain water. 

Because we make so many dishes with zoodles (noodles that are made of zucchini), we were eager to grow our own zucchini.  When I asked an associate at the WNC Farmers Market where we might be able to find some, he answered that they've been out of plants for a few weeks now and pointed out their seeds rack.  I had not intended to plant any seeds this late in the season, but there they were waiting to be purchased.

So in addition to the dark green zucchini envelope, we picked up some white Lisbon bunching onion, Bloomsdale Long Standing Spinach, "Sow Easy" Yellow Straightneck Squash, Destiny Hybrid Broccoli, and Sweet Basil.  Papa Bruno also gave us an envelope of unknown lettuce seeds a few years ago, so what the heck... we tossed those onto the soil too.  After planting the seedlings, we were hot, sweaty and ready for lunch, so we decided to save the rest of the planting for the next day.

Since my husband had been leading the charge on my little garden idea by building the fence and preparing the soil, when it came time to get down and dirty, he let me take over.  The first row contained the tomato seedlings.  The second had Papa Bruno's lettuce seeds, then I added our spinach.  The romantic idea of growing my first edible garden felt less exciting, and I was a bit "hoe-hum" about this project that is meant to explore the power of creativity.

While picking up a few last minute items at Tractor Supply this morning, Augi returned with seedlings of basil plants and mint (for those mojitos that we do not drink yet).  These culinary herbs were planted next to the parsley and onion in the back row that stretched across the garden.  I knelt beside the third and final row, and decided what order to plant broccoli, yellow squash and zucchini.

It wasn't until I got around to opening the broccoli seeds, that I read the instructions which said to start planting these seeds 6 to 8 weeks before the last frost then sow outdoors. So we will wait until next year, if my thumb is still feeling green by then. I did add an iCal reminder to plant them in an indoor pot in March 2024.  

Each seed was unique and came with its own set of rules.  Onion looked like black pepper flecks and 2 were planted every 2 inches.  The Sow Easy Yellow Squash looked like red pumpkin seeds, just for fun, Augi flicked a couple of these onto the same hillside where some pumpkins grew wild after our last Halloween carving party.  Spinach looked like fine kitty litter, and were planted 1 every 2 inches apart.  The spinach envelope said they will require 8-10 days to germinate and 45 days to harvest.

There it was, my first planted garden. I opened the gate to step outside, un-velcroed my sweaty knee pads, and chose the "misting" setting on our new water hose nozzle.  I don't feel I can call myself a gardener until after the first harvest, I am merely a novice until then. Now we just sit back, water each morning, weed any unwanted growth, and see what grows and how long it will take.