Gardening 101

Some people might be intimidated by the act of gardening; they may not know where to start, or feel like they may not know enough about actually gardening to be successful, or feel like they don't have a green-thumb, like that's a mandatory thing when one gardens. The advice that I would give, the same advice that Corrie tells people, is: read the instructions on the packet of seeds and then do your best to do what is says. If you bought plants instead of seeds, try to get potting soil if you're going to put them into pots, and regular soil if you want a boost when you put them in the ground. Add water and wait.

Let me tell you, I barely know anything about gardening. The majority of what I know that I didn't learn from the backs of seed packets, I learned from reading a book about composting specifically, not gardening.

In any case, here at the Austin house where we live, there is a rip-roaring gardening "experiment" going on in our "gardening area", aka, the garden. My auntie-in-law has placed many, many tomato plants in various spots of the garden, which in the following pictures will be noticeable, along with summer squash...some of the 'mater plants have already sprouted little greenies. Beans that we planted, along with peas, corn, basil, watermelon, sunflower, and cucumbers of both kinds--pickling and slicing--are all doing well. Even our compost heap is doing well, smelling proper--like earth, not rotting crapola--and looking right underneath the surface.

We did have some problems with aphids and our special Topsy-Turvy deals, which ate the blossoms on our yellow pepper and our jalapeno pepper plants, making it virtually impossible for peppers to grow. We did get one jalapeno, before the aphids could get the blossom. Our third, and final, Topsy-Turvy planter had an heirloom tomato plant--little brown cherry-toms--but the brace it hung from fell, crushing the once thriving plant. Dammit. The jury's still out on whether those Topsy-Turvy planters are all they're cracked up to be. We could have placed them, conceivably, in a place with more sunshine...

Time for some pictures:

Here's our hanging jalapeno (I'm almost ashamed there's no enya in this publishing format).



Here's an overview of our entire garden--behind the fence. It looks seriously green because no one has done any weeding. See, things will grow even if you don't weed. The lettuce, spinach, and arugula were doing well, but have since been choked out by the weeds, so there is that consequence. A thicket of tomatoes can be seen on the left, along with some corn-stalks behind. Beans, peas, and squash are in the foreground.



In the back part of the yard, near a nice large shed that Grandaddy Cooper built, we have our planter with pickling cucumbers. These were hoping to go well with our own dill, which had been thriving, until some insect vermin ate most of it. The dill is there, but less robust. These cucumbers look good, though.



Here is a look at our compost pile. Sometimes the dogs get into it and eat half-decomposed banana peals. Doesn't bother me!



The tree on the left is one of our three pecan trees on the premises, but I've been told that this one in particular is the good pecan tree. The garden is visible in the back-left, along the fence.



We tilled the soil on the other side of the fence as well, and have planted some things out there. There's an eggplant that my auntie-in-law planted, along with another thicket of tomato, which at this point has grown into a veritable rain-forest of life down at one end of the planting area. I'd show pictures of that, but when I took them, I was using Rachel as a scale reference, to show off their size, but she was wearing a bathrobe, and I'm not going to put those up here. Here, though, is a picture of our thriving watermelon in the front, and some of our big sunflowers behind some tomato plants.



We also put some nasturtium out there, along the fence, which was kinda cool, since they don't really need great soil or lots of sun or water (learned from the back of the packet). They'll be thriving later, and they'll also be providing their edible flowers for our consumption.



The shot I'm leaving you with is a close-up of the jungle like atmosphere, with the basil the only thing in focus. To the left of the basil, you might be able to see a tiny green sphere of un-ripe tomato.