Garden Volume II

I can barely believe that I am starting my second garden-year here in St. Helens. Last year I began from nothing and created something that lives on to grow again. Today was, thankfully, sunny and warm. I spent the entire day working in my back yard. I actually thought that I would just get the weeds pulled today and perhaps be ready to amend the soil and plant on another day. But the weeds came out faster than I thought, even though I filled my 5 gallon bucket three times with just Bindweed and Bindweed roots! I had poured 4 bags of mulched compost into the vegetable garden area and turned the soil before I realized that I could actually plant stuff today.

The sole break I took was to drive to Hi School Pharmacy's garden area, muddy jeans and all, to purchase lettuce, spinach, pansies, cosmos, cilantro and more compost. I planted the plants I purchased as well as 4 potato "eyes," 2 dozen garlic, 3 rows of red onions, and 10 strawberry starts. The strawberries went into the planter on my deck that already has 8 or 10 strawberries that survived from last year.

I have never grown potatos before and I have never been successful wtih spinach. This will be an experiment for me that I hope will yield edible goodies. I really enjoy eating veggies from my garden. I still need to plant tomatos, peas, cucumbers and tomatillos. And, if I can find space, some zuchinni. In past years I would have already planted my tomatos, but, perhaps I am becoming more of a Pacific Northwest gardener. I hesitated to purchase tomatos today, even though they were available, since I do not trust the weather just yet. I have time and I don't want to see them killed with a frost or have to wrap them in plastic bags as I did last year due to my zeal to get them in the ground.

I have a small, deck-sized greenhouse left over from my Orenco Station apartment life. I will use it to start some radishes, cucumbers and zuchinni seeds in biodegradable pots to be transferred to the soil when they sprout. I am coveting a larger greenhouse at Fred Meyers that sells for $99. I have a place on the south side of the stairs to my deck that seems to collect only mud and water and grow nothing. I think that would be a great spot for a wee greenhouse. I have enough bricks to make a floor after I put down several bags of bark. It would be fun to start plants there and I could anchor it to the deck and the fence so it could withstand the winds.

My list of wants far outweighs my list of needs. For this I am exceedingly grateful. I stood on my deck this evening watching my garden in the sinking sunlight and said thanks for my being in the beautiful state of Oregon, for my little house with its, thank goodness, little yard and for Mike and all my good friends that I have made here. This is really the very best part of my life!