Monday, May 26, 2008

Gardening


The grading company showed up last Thursday to begin grading the yard. Yes, I was ecstatic. They worked for a few hours and then left. Then they showed up bright and early Friday morning and began again. Until the rain started pouring down so heavily they had to take cover in their trucks and wait for it to slow down enuf so that they could load up all their machines and depart once again. And I was so hopeful....they have about 4 hours of work left to do he says. So far they have probably put in about 6. Of course there is rain in the forecast for the next 2 days and then once the rain stops the ground has to dry out enuf for him to be able to do anything properly.

Before he left he saw my little tomato plants just patiently waiting to be nestled into the earth. He says, you need to get those in the ground. I agree, I say. He says, we got most of the heavy work done out here, so go ahead and get those plants in and we will work around them. Really? Gotta love him. His wife puts in about 100 plants every season. My 35 seem minuscule compared to that, but none the less, he sees the importance of the plant. Rising food costs, he says. Cant hardly afford to shop at an actual store anymore. Besides, he says, garden fresh is better anyway. I'm sure you can tell by the size of my belly....as he pats it ever so nicely.


So, this weekend, darting the rain, we manged to get the plants in and secured. Got the stakes in so that when they get a little bigger we can keep them upright. It gets so darn windy out here that leaving them to their own devices is asking for trouble.


Online we found a really nifty cucumber trellis. We went out and purchased all the supplies and S and J got both of them built in a jiffy. It folds flat so that it makes for easier storage. And underneath it you can grow some tasty lettuce that will be shaded and stay cooler from all the vines. That may happen later...or not. We have yet to master lettuce plants. In due time, right?

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi,

Thanks for sharing those pictures of your garden. It's good and clean looking. Having your own garden allows you to grow tomatoes full of nutritional flavor besides saving you trips to the grocery. Enjoy your garden!

Country Girl said...

That is a great idea for cukes, I'll have to show my husband! Happy gardening!

Anonymous said...

YAY! You got 'em planted!! :) I did too! Although, now I'm regretting it b/c we're supposed to get a hard frost tonight!! UGH! Very inventive cucumber trellis!!

Mim said...

Glad to see you got them in. Mine are still setting on the backporch. What did you put in the soil to prep it? Cook trellis. I'll have to pass that on to the engineer.

sugarcreekstuff said...

That idea is one I may have to steal. My cukes usually end up being the thing that takes over the garden.

Danni said...

Wow!! You've got a garden!! What a nice guy to say they'd work around your tomatoes...I'm guessing that's something not often offered!
That cucumber trellis is the coolest thing...How many plants will that support? Love that it folds flat for storage. Way to think ahead! :-)

frugalmom said...

Tom: Thanks for stopping by. The garden looks good now, huh? Prolly wont look as nice when everything starts filling in!

country girl: Nice to meet ya! I thought the cuke trellis was great too. We may have to add an addtl bottom brace tho because it is really windy out here. One trellis has blown over a few times. Altho, Im not sure if the weight from the plants will help...

farm mom: I know! Arent you excited! I was so excited to get out there and work.

mim: Im sure the engineer will have revisions. At this point we have only added compost. We will add some lime before we seed tho.

sugarcreekstuff: Steal it! Then post some pics so we can compare plants!

Danni: Yeah, they normally just make you wait. No matter what. This guy was so sweet. I had to send our builder a note to tell him how much I liked the guy and that he did such a great job. It didnt say how many plants it will support. We are going to try out 4 plants on each one. 4 pickling and 4 just eating ones.