"Nice Furrows!"

[apple_pathways]

The weather has finally let up, and we're able to start our plot in the community garden! Hooray!

Since my dad is retired and officially has Nothing Better To Do, my mother has recruited him to help with the gardening. (Which is good, since she can't really do any of it herself.) We went out yesterday morning to see if the Guy we hired had roto-tilled yet, but he hadn't. He did it that afternoon, and so my parents went out while I was at work to start making the hills. They were able to finish the back three, which are the big (3 ft wide) ones set aside for my pumpkins, squash, melons and the beans and peas.

This morning, they left to visit my brother in Indianapolis before he and his wife move to California. So I get to put together the rest of the garden by myself. It's a big job, but honestly: I'm psyched. My mother drives me nuts. She can't do anything herself, so instead she satisfies herself by playing Foreman and trying to dictate my every move. (Those who know me can imagine how well this goes over.) And my dad: well, he handles it even less well than I do. And with more shouting.

So today, I went out and finished digging out the rows. (Building up my awesome Ditch Digger arms!) I bought some organic fertilizer and raked it and some compost into the back mounds and planted the pumpkins, squash, and melons and gave them a good watering. I also spent some time chatting and catching up with my community garden neighbors.

Now, I may very well be the youngest gardener out there by about 10 years--I'm certainly the only one under 30. (Not counting this weird, commune-like community group that's renting a plot. I swear, they have about 20 people working one little square, most of whom are just standing around.) Despite being the age of many of my neighbor's grandchildren, I fit in scarily well. I spent about five minutes talking to a woman about my cultivator tool. (It's ergonomic. BOO YA!) Another neighbor told me I had "nice furrows!" "Why, thank you!" I replied coyly. :P

And so commences my exciting summer social life of chatting to middle-aged retirees about weeding and hose attachments!

In other happy news: my new iPod is here (oh, how I missed you, my love!) and Trade Secret is having some massive clearance sale and I bought a bag full of expensive-smelling hair products for just $17.00. I also got two bottles of OPI nail polish for $1.50 each. They were originally $12.50 a pop because they contain diamond dust! Ooh, how decadent! I'm gonna have to wait until the heavy digging is over to paint my nails, though: I haven't much to speak of at the moment.

Comments

[evilhippo.livejournal.com]

Aaaand commence garden jealousy. I'm making a trip to the garden center out on the west side tomorrow... any suggestions on what I should plant? Preferably things that can stand partial sun, and don't need to climb anything (though a part of me really wants to train some vines up one of the supports on my back porch, just because it'd look cool. It'd just be a pain to pull down in the fall. And if it got big, my neighbors would hate me, and I'm already pushing it with the hanging planters I hung by the stairs ^_^).

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

Hmm, partial sun...that's a tough one! Is it filtered/shaded sun all day, or do you have a few hours of direct sunlight?

I would definitely try Swiss Chard! It's easy to grow, attractive, and tasty. You can cut off stalks as you need them, and the plant will continue to produce all summer. (It doesn't bolt like lettuce.)

Hot peppers are a good bet. From the one chili plant I grew last summer, I got a bumper crop of chilis! (I dried so many, I'm not even bothering to plant another one this year!) Also, chili peppers (and many other hot peppers) are pretty. :D Bell peppers, on the other hand, like hot weather and I've never had any success with them. I don't imagine they'd grow well in partial sun.

I'd try tomatoes. So long as you keep them well-fed, and they get at least a couple hours of sun per day, I imagine they'd do fine. Ooh, you could try cucumbers in one of those upside-down hanging planters! My aunt grows them on her second floor deck every year, and the vines end up trailing over the sides so that when you walk across the patio underneath there are full-grown cucumbers hanging suspended in the air.

[alt_universe_me.livejournal.com]

Diamond dust? Well then, you are going to have the classiest nails at the community garden!

On a side note, this post kind of makes me think of you as having an old soul (which I mean as a compliment, so please don't be mad at me!)

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

Damn straight! Just as soon as they grow back. :P

Of course I will take it as a compliment! Anyway, all the signs are there: I garden, I cook, I knit and crochet, I'm constantly complaining that it's too hot or too cold...I am most definitely an old woman soul! ;)

[jobey-in-error.livejournal.com]

I've been wanting to comment on your sexy furrows for some time... but haven't been able to work up the nerve. And look. Now I'm scooped.

Sounds like the best shopping splurge, er, ever. (I miss my iPod too! Husband's and mine both died on the plane ride to California... and no they were never on... I've never heard of that happening. [expletives deleted])

All I have to say to the nail polish is:



;)

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

My furrows bring all the gardeners to the yard...

(Yeah. Old Lame Joke is old and lame. :P)

I am so happy my iPod was still under warranty! I don't know how much it would cost to replace it (it was a gift), but I do I couldn't afford it!

I have applied the bling polish to my toes, and darling, it's fabulous! "Diamonds on the toes in her shoes..." (That works, right?)