State of the Garden Address

Ok, so as of today here's how things are progressing.

Seeds I've Started Indoors (and how they are doing):
Tomato, Gourmet Heirloom Blend: 3/4 sprouted. They seem to be doing quite well :)
Tomato, Bonny Best: 1/2 sprouted. Doing okay :/
Pepper, Golden Treasure: 0/2 sprouted :(
Pepper, Sweet Golden Cal Wonder: 0/2 sprouted :(
Eggplant, Black Beauty: 2/3 sprouted. Only 1 seems to be thriving, however. ;/
Lettuce, Salad Bowl Red: 7/12 sprouted/thriving...originally more sprouted, but they dried out. Still, the majority are doing well :)
Pumpkin, Orange Smoothie: 2/2 sprouted and thriving...I think starting this indoors was a mistake since they are already big-ass sons of guns. Doing great :)
Winter Squash, Delicata: 0/2 sprouted...they may need more time? :(
Melon, Casaba Golden Beauty: 4/4 sprouted, 2 of which are already thriving :)

Seeds I've Started Outdoors (and how they are doing):
Pea, Dark Seeded Perfection: Planted 16. These have finally, just BARELY, started showing their lovely little faces! About three little sprouts are now visible, so I'm quite joyful :) I'm going to try to keep them pretty wet and hope they keep on growing like a boss. :/
Carrot, Danvers Half Long: Can't remember how many I planted...but regardless, nothing yet :(

So far, not too bad, right? If nothing else, I've got tomatoes, eggplant, lettuce, pumpkins, melons, and peas to look forward to! Next step is, I think, to move the thriving/larger plants to bigger containers, and soon I'll start hardening them off.

Light Stand for Seed Starting

Thanks to this site, I found a cheap and easy way to build a light stand for my seed starts. It took less than ten minutes to finish (except for the fact that one of the elbows I grabbed was the wrong angle and I had to exchange it at Lowe's...d'oh!) and costs about $7 (assuming you have access to a PVC pipe cutter or a saw already).

I began by gathering the materials:

• 10 feet (1” internal diameter, ID) PVC pipe (I only needed to use 8 feet of the pipe)
• 2 L-shaped PVC connectors (1” ID)
• 2 T-shaped PVC connectors (1” ID)
• 4 PVC endcaps (1” ID)

• hacksaw (or pvc pipe cutter)
• tape measure
• marker

I used 2 5' pipes for this job (so they would fit in my car), and ended the project with an extra 2' of pipe (since I chose to make the 24" version instead of the 48" one). I was able to borrow a pvc pipe cutter from a relative, so that reduced the cost and made the project go faster.

I went ahead and marked the pipe into sections that I would be cutting, like so...

...and used the pvc pipe cutter to cut the sections out into separate pieces.

Now, the fun part: connect all the parts! And just like that, in a matter of minutes and with a little pocket change, I had a truly lovely little light stand for my soon-to-be seed starts!

A stand similar to this with a light fixture tends to cost $50 or more (usually not including a bulb for the light fixture). I plan to use one or two clamp lights (~$14 for both) with fluorescent bulbs ($7 for 2), bringing my project cost close to $30. Not bad! Now I just need to figure out a creative way to raise and lower the clamp lights on the frame. Shouldn't be too difficult to make it work.

Am I really ready for THIS?

Good question.

But you know, sometimes it's true that thinking too much about something before you do it is a bad idea. This might be one of those times. If I really considered what I'm getting myself into, I might turn back this very second.

Here are the seeds I have and am planning to plant/grow/kill/whatever very soon:

• Dark Seeded Perfection Peas
• Purple Plum Radish
• Delicata Squash
• Orange Smoothie Pumpkin
• Salad Bowl Red Lettuce
• Danvers Half-Long Carrot
• Black Beauty Eggplant
• Sweet Golden Cal Wonder Pepper
• Casaba Golden Beauty Melon

March 19th is the earliest date in my region to start seeds indoors, and I'm preparing myself to do just that. Most of the seeds I have will need to be planted straight in the ground later on, but a few I can get going inside the house. Here's the thing, though--I really don't know what I'm doing. Sure, I've been reading, but I've never actually done real gardening before on this scale.

Here's the area I'll be working with.

Thanks for helping, Bailey.

See that dirt that's all raked and pretty-like? That's where the raised bed is going to go. Let me assure you that although it might not look like it from the photo, I want to re-emphasize the fact that the ground is PURE FREAKING ROCK and really quite impossible to grow anything in unless it's a certain type of weed, sage brush, or wild flowers. I don't think the "soil" is capable of sustaining much more than that. So we'll be bringing soil in instead.

See those black planter things? They're left over from when we planted trees last year, and I'm thinking of utilizing them as part of the garden. They're big enough to each fit a pepper, tomato, or other kind of plant. That way, we wouldn't need to make more than one raised bed.

Now excuse me while I figure out how many plants I can actually fit in the space I'm planning for the garden.

So, I want to start a garden.

A serious garden. A garden that grows enough food to actually be substantial. And I want to do it from "scratch."

First, let me tell you what I'm up against. I live on land that is pure rock, meaning what soil there is happens to suck. It's the poorest soil you'll ever see. This heroic part of me had the silly thought of "oh, I can make it work!" But no. I went out there with a shovel and couldn't dig an inch down. This, by the way, was when the ground was "muddy." So no, I won't be planting directly in the native soil. (just a side note--when we planted trees on the property, we did indeed need to rent a jackhammer to dig the holes. A JACKHAMMER.)

Check out that exceptional soil quality!

This means raised garden beds (which we will need to build), soil brought in, and plenty of amendments to make it workable. Oh, this is going to be an adventure!

First things first: the seeds! I'm going to try starting them indoors in a couple of weeks. More on that soon.