Anyway, staring at the dark ceiling just wasn't working anymore. So, I've found something constructive to do with my ample time: Planning this years garden!
We bought our house in June 2008 and didn't really get unpacked and situated until early fall. We knew that when we bought a house we'd like to have a garden every summer, but the first year it was too late in the season. The summer of '09, my husband was off in the sandbox, and I didn't want one without him, so I held off again. Finally, this past summer we were able to plant a good sized garden.
We had 5 different types of modern and heirloom tomatoes, a few kinds of sweet and hot peppers, cucumbers, snow peas, lettuce, zucchini, eggplants, 2 kinds of onions, and we had a smaller separate plot for herbs.
It started out well, but we ran into so many problems that it ended a complete disaster in early fall. The problem was (still is) that we have a very dense clay soil. There had never been a garden here, so we had to remove unruly, weedy grass and then cultivate the soil. By hand. It SUCKED!
Another problem we had is the garden was planted adjacent to the side of the garage, so when it rained, our poor garden flooded. Every. Damn. Time. And it rained a LOT last summer in Ohio.
We dug trenches and salvaged what we could, but that clay is a worthy opponent.
Anyway, this spring we intend to redo the entire thing and make raised beds. I grew up having huge gardens, but never with raised beds, so it'll be another learning experience, which is fine. I'm a vegetarian so I would like to grow a diverse range of plants. I find myself missing the fresh, flavorful foods I got to enjoy last summer/fall. The stuff at the store just never tastes as good :)
So, in summation, if you have any advice on raised beds, gardening in general, or you'd like to suggest things for me to grow, I'd appreciate it!
i have no advice for you but totally respect your go get up nesss!!!! I think gardens are the cat's meow and totally will do one of my own one day!
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