So last weekend I finally planted my first vegetable garden with the little girl next door. (If you remember, I told her last fall I would be willing to do this with her.) Things did not 
go quite as smoothly as I would have liked.
First of all, I changed location for the garden at the last minute last fall and as a result the area wasn’t prepared properly. Because of that, I spent most of Saturday yanking and digging up clumps of grass and other unidentified root balls. (Remember, I don’t own a roto-tiller.) That was a good work-out! I finally resorted to spraying part of the area with Round-Up so it would be easier to dig up.
The neighbor girl also wanted to grow everything from seed, like she had done at school. I was all for that idea and had even gotten some seeds to plant. Then I started looking at where we’re at in the growing season along with the amount space we would need versus what I was willing to dig up by hand. Starting from seed wasn’t gonna happen. I decided to purchase some plants that were already well on their way. Bonus: Flowerland had veggie plants on sale for 50% off. (OK, the neighbor girl was a little disappointed but she’ll get over it.)
So just about everything is now in the ground or growing in pots. We’re still going to try growing the beans from seed since they tend to be planted in successive 
crops anyway. The rest of the seeds can be stored for next year. With any luck, we will be successful and have fresh veggies to share with our families and friends.
What have I learned so far? Measure twice, dig once. Planning a vegetable garden is not that different than planning a flower bed. You have to take into account how much space each plant is going to need and clear away any unwanted vegetation accordingly. (Garden lasagna is a good way to clear out grassy areas!) And if you think you have enough space, add a few more square feet.
Hopefully the weather will cooperate and we’ll see a little more sun and a little less rain. I’d hate to have all our work get washed away.
Until next time….stay dry!
Mary Gold
) and from along our back fence. I didn’t crush them or break them apart; I just laid them over the newspaper ‘as is.’ It’s a compost pile, I thought. It shouldn’t make that much of a difference, I thought. Well, it seems Mr. Greenthumb was right (gee, there’s a surprise). Whole leave do not decompose very quickly. When I went to turn over the soil, I had large chunks of leaves. I’ve blended in what I can but I’ll probably rake out the rest.
