Gardening...

I read a wonderful quote today. If I ever find it on one of those cutesy wooden plaques, I'll hang it over my main garden. It said something to the effect that a gardener who doesn't kill plants isn't pushing her boundaries. If that's the test of boundary pushing, I'm the Columbus of gardeners.

We were able to complete the "winter" part of our garden. We put in brick borders around most of the perimeter. (Chad wouldn't do the whole thing since, as he put it, there's no point in having empty garden plots. *sigh*) We were able to plant our grapes and berries. We dug wide, deep holes, tucked them in and then, I begged them to grow. Well, "beg" is a bit strong. A little pep talk along the lines of "please don't die" followed by a little pat and a "please, please don't die".

We also got the garlic, yellow and red onions, early carrots and spinach and lettuce planted. I'm keeping my fingers crossed since I'm starting a few of them on the early side, but, worse case scenario, I end up re-planting later this spring.

I'm really excited about the garlic. Not only does each clove produce a bulb with 10-15 cloves, but then I can use those cloves to plant more garlic. Self-sustaining planting! Then, while I was researching garlic online, I discovered that gophers and snails hate it, so...garlic EVERYWHERE! I was thisclose to buying a chemical snail poison just to get rid of the insane number of snails along the side of the house. I'm so jazzed to have found a natural deterrent. (Maybe I should save my excitement until I find out if it works. After all, we remember the Great Cayenne Debacle of 2008.)

I feel good about what we accomplished today. Especially considering we did some of it while it was raining. I've also realized, now that I've started planting, that I'm going to have more room than I first thought. That means at least seven or eight green bean plants. I'll also be able plant ten peas. How did I miss this?

I was thinking row spacing until Chad reminded me that I'm basically planting one single row so I should look at plant spacing. The green beans should be six inches apart, giving me enough room in it's eight foot area for 16. The peas are planted two inches apart, giving me enough for 48 plants. What would I do with peas off of 48 plants?!? A part of me doesn't want to waste any space and just freeze what I don't use, but seriously. Do you realize how many pea pods would come from 48 plants??

*pause while I try to find out*

Hmmm...I was just discovered that peas can be planted...now. That is, if I'm considered a mild climate. Considering that this week's forecast is putting us back up to 70, I'm wondering if I should go for it. The website said that peas are "a cool-season crop that should be planted as soon as soil can be worked." I'm assuming that means as soon as it's no longer frozen. (As if our ground is ever really frozen.) It also said to sow every two weeks for continuous harvest. Maybe 48 plants isn't a bad idea after all. Or at least 30. If they're not all being harvested at the same time, it wouldn't be overwhelming. Oh dear. Maybe we're not finished yet...

*pause while I share the good news with Chad*

Chad is groaning. Poor man. He thought he was done for a couple months.

I'm so excited! If this works...I'll have fresh peas from the garden for Easter dinner. How sweet is that? (No pun intended.)