Gardening

A while ago when WM and I were heading to the PA Renaissance Faire, we passed some farms and idly wondered what our farm name would be, if we had one. We laughingly settled on Angry Man Farm. Whenever we do any type of outdoor or baking work, we call it an Angry Man Farm product.

This past weekend was amazing for two reasons: 1) it was a three-day weekend and 2) the weather was AMAZING. Thusly, it was time for me to put my gardening money where my mouth is and build the small raised garden I planned at the beginning of the month.

We went to Home Depot and bought two 8-foot 2×10 boards, and one 8-foot 4×4 post. With guidance from WM, I cut the boards into 2 4-foot lengths and 2 2-foot lengths. We cut the post into 4 6-inch lengths so they would be shorter than the bed. And then we drilled holes into the sides of the bed into the little square piece to give it more support.

We lined the bottom of the bed with cardboard and leaves. Then it was time to buy soil. We bought 7 1.5 cubic foot bags of dirt. And because we suck at math, we had 2 left. It’s okay, they’ll get used. I’m going to plant green beans and cucumber plants in pots.

You can also file this under “we suck at math”: we didn’t account for the 2-inch width of the boards when we cut them to exactly 4 feet by exactly 2 feet. Now the bed is effectively 3 foot 8 inches long by 2 foot 4 inches wide. You live, you learn. If I build another box I’ll remember this.

Next, we need to figure out how to keep rabbits, squirrels, and black-and-white spaniels out of the garden once the plants are transplanted. I can’t think of this yet – too overwhelming.

Sated and a bit sore, I turned my attention toward the plants I had growing inside. I was running into a problem where the seedlings were growing too tall too quickly so that they could reach the sunlight coming out of the window. Now I know the solution to that was to install grow lights over them but OMG how much setup is a gardening newbie supposed to spend money on?

And the little peat pods were drying out very quickly. Even though the seedlings were 3 weeks old at most, I decided to transplant them all into larger pots to hold more moisture.

Neither my mint, rosemary, or lavender sprouted, so I planted another round of those seeds in new peat pods.

The vegetables came into the kitchen, where I put the pots in trays on top of an overturned bin to get them closer to the window. The impatiens are still in the guest room, also on overturned bins. I hope that by the time the little herbs begin to grow I have the rest of the plants moved outside.