Still in Play

I wrote about beginning the Great Gardening Game a few weeks ago. Well, we're still in play! We discovered our first tomatoes on... Friday, the 13th! Begone, ye superstition!

At any rate, we felt like parents all over again--our first little tomato babies. Now begins the really hard work--watching over these little guys and monitoring bugs, weeds, growth, etc. It's a lot like watching over wee people now that I think about it (except that the tomatoes will grant me a full night's sleep).

We didn't buy our starting plants and seeds from the organic aisle, but we have always tried to stick to organic means of maintaining our edible plants. We practice companion planting (flowers and other veggies with bug repelling properties), soap sprays, and old-fashioned weeding. Our flowers are seed-started this year, and a bit late at that, so I'm not sure they'll be flowering in time to do us any good! Oh well...we'll see. Maybe I'll end up writing a series of organic posts someday when I'm not slaving away in my little back 40 (feet, that is).

My toddler "helped" me sow some beans recently. I kept telling myself that the experience of being in the garden, handling the seeds, playing with roly-polies, and blowing bubbles is all more important than whether or not I end up buying green beans in the stores later this summer because our seeds fail to germinate.

Phase 0 was getting the ground ready (letting leaves compost there over the winter).

Phase 1 was planting.

Phase 2--they're growing! Peppers on the left, tomatoes in center and right. Cucumbers are in little hills scattered around, as are various herbs. Beans will (hopefully) be climbing the fences soon.

Stay tuned for the next phase: our first edibles!