Garden Attempts by Novices - Take 1
We did it... we started our garden today!
It was a good day of work, but WAY more than I bargained for! About 5 minutes into getting to our site and carrying all our tools the (what would you say Leslie ?) 500+ ft walk, and making my first hole in the dirt with 3 kids digging and swinging shovels and hoes and rakes all around me, I realized this was going to take a LOT longer than the 1 hour I planned in our day.
You know how they always say that living on a farm is glamorized and take much more work than they say? Wo/man are they right! Moving around 125 cu. ft. of dirt was really hard work, but wo/man did it feel good!
Here are some things I learned today... more to come tomorrow I'm sure!
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Make a list of all the supplies you need to get the soil ready for planting, especially when your garden is not in your own yard. Even though you just want to get out there, first sit and think.
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It takes a lot longer than expected to prepare 10 x 50 feet of soil. It is literally a whole day job. If it wasn't for the dedication of Ezekiel at my side we would have not gotten as far as we did in our 4 hours there. (Yes, fours hours! And I thought it would take only 1!)
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When bringing along a 2,4, and 6 year old find yourself another adult if you can. While today went surprisingly well, for being incredibly outnumbered, next time, if I did it again, I would find more help.
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Work gloves for all kids. I know I have them for all the kids but when leaving the house only one child brought theirs and I forgot to find the rest along with my own.
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Sunscreen. Again, if I had made a list or if I was closer to home. I now have my first sunburn of the year. Sunhats for the kids tomorrow for sure!
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An experienced gardener in your pocket. Again, I have a black thumb and if they made these or my favorite gardeners lived nearby I would so have brought them along. I realized all our info is from books and once I started talking to actual gardeners they would say things like, "Oh, I NEVER do that." I can't tell if that is because they are so talented with their green thumbs they don't need to do these things or if all the books I am reading are wrong. In my novice-ness I am betting it is their green thumbs for now. I will find out when none of our plants grow that it is the system I guess.
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Extra drinking water. I brought some, but not enough when you take into account that we have a Miriam along with us, the messiest of mess makers. Our cherished drinking water ended up all over the front of her dirt covered shirt to make her a mud covered Miriam.
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Wheelbarrow. I think this would have made our trips to the car a cinch, though it was doable without. I did find a way to roll a rectangle bag of 40lb peat moss the whole trek. I honestly never knew rectangle could roll so well.
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Oh, and before all this, make sure that before you go to the garden store that your trunk is empty! Otherwise you will be squeezing your huger-than-life stroller and your husband's guitar in the back seat with the kids. (Yes friend, I know what you are thinking.)
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Pack and Play? Or at least a blanket. If my hour there would have been correct we would have still gotten Miriam home for nap time, but as it was, we worked straight through nap time and Miriam wasn't too jazzed about the grass on her face for longer than a couple minutes and the roll of galvanized fencing wasn't that pleasant<
That was great! I was hoping for a picture at the end! :) I think we might try a garden this year... although I am re-thinking it after all of that! :)
LOL, this just makes me laugh!! Your garden looks sooo good its ready to go!! :) Amber and I only spent about an hour out there, before we had a date with a raquetball court but we didn't get all that we needed to get done, but we got about 1/3 done, so we still have a little more dirt to dig :) Amber was making a list as we dug, she has never done a garden either :) so I think we may have to blog about it as well! :)
Oh Leah don't re-think it! You can totally do it! I think size definitely matters here and even the books we read said that a 4' x 5' garden is a great place to start and produces a bountiful harvest! You should SO try it! Belle will love playing in the dirt too! We also figured out how to do the fence last night so we will get that situated today, yeah! The work you girls did last night looks awesome! And then playing racquetball? You two are pros! I am SOOO sore today!
Way to go, team! I'm so proud of you guys!! I worked for an hour with Mindy in our garden this week and I was so tired! What a great week for preparing and planting the soil, though!
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