The little garden is taking off…

As I mentioned a while back, I’m starting a garden this year for the first time in a very long time. And let’s just say…mistakes have been made. But, overall, things are going well.

I couldn’t put the garden in the most logical (and sunniest) spot in the yard because it would sit right over the water main that needs to be replaced soon. But the alternate spot gets good full sun for several hours a day, plus it’s right next to a spigot, so it’s easy to water.

I probably should have installed raised beds, but instead decided to simply remove the grass and rototill. Unfortunately, the bermuda grass is extremely persistent and I’m having to stay on top of the weeding a bit more than I thought I would. I’ve installed benderboard around the edge of the garden, and I’m going to add a bunch of mulch to see if that helps.

The big bag of dogfood in the pic? That’s my secret ingredient! It’s not actually dogfood, of course. It’s sheep poo, provided by the boyfriend, who has access to these kinds of things.

So, what’s in it? Purple (satin) eggplant, green bell pepper, cocozelle (a medium-sized Italian squash that looks like zucchini with racing stripes), and cucumbers. The boyfriend has several little pots of tomatoes sprouting at his place…the final decision about which ones are going in to my garden is pending, but we have romas, cherry, brandywine, golden brandywine, mortgage lifters, and Cherokee purples. Some of the seeds are from his family’s seed collection, but everything else came from my favorite gardening store in Sac, Pietro Talini’s Nursery.

The bell pepper and eggplant were bought in 4″ sizes, but they’re growing like crazy. The cucumbers seemed to sprout overnight. Only one out of six cocozelle seeds sprouted. The one that did sprout is going gangbusters, and we planted several more to see what happens. I also tossed some basil seeds in an old pot on my patio, and they sprouted in under a week. I’m planning to add some other herbs, and am thinking about expanding the garden to include beets and parsnips, the two root veggies I absolutely adore.

I put up a “fence” of deer screen to prevent my dog from getting in the garden, too. The whole thing is very flimsy, but it required almost no effort and seems to be a good enough deterrent–even for a 95-lb beast.

The final step in getting the garden set up was to adjust the spray direction of several lawn sprinklers so they don’t spray on the garden. My lawn is primarily bermuda grass and dandelions these days, so it’s not like I’m inspired to make sure those get enough water; however, I didn’t want overspray going into the planting beds. So, I dug up four of the ancient (1960s-era?) sprinklers, changed out the heads or redirected them, and things seem to be looking good.

I’ve been getting a lot of good information from Pat Rubin’s gardening blog on the Sac Bee’s website.

Although my garden is not technically “organic”–it is going to be chemical-free. It’s sitting in rich Sacramento Valley soil that has been covered in lawn for the last 70 years. (My house sits in what used to be suburban peach orchards at the turn of the century.) Over the years, I did fertilize the lawn sporadically, but essentially the area is clean and free of pesticides and other chemicals. I guess you could call me “transitional organic.”

The final touches were the marigolds…which I bought on a whim when I was picking up the eggplant and bell pepper at Talini’s. I think they either attract beneficial insects or they distract bad ones–I can’t ever remember which. But I do like the little spot of color they add.