Oh, no. The crazy man's at it again!

What do I mean by this? Well, specifically I mean that I've started up the garden again. I know, they are supposed to come and paint our house (it's a rental), but I've heard nothing, seen nothing, so as they say 'damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!'

I did play it a little cautious, as I decided to expand the area of the garden to allow for more items but at the same time I decided to leave the area closest to the house empty in case they do decide to show up and paint. Here is a picture of the current garden area after finishing planting, and one of the garden from two years ago (when I did this the last time) to show the difference.

I worked the ground up as follows: I tilled, then raked to remove the grass and moss. Then I went over it a second time with the tiller and again raked to complete the moss and grass removal (along with quite a few rocks. I think I found where they put all the rocks from when they built the house). I then went over it a final time with the tiller and raking to complete the rock removal (ha! I should know better. Growing up, I worked the same area for over 13 years and still came up with rocks). After that, I then put in the seeds and plants for this year. It ended up being a bit later than last time (by almost a month), but the soil was warmer, which I think will help in the long run.

What is on the agenda for this year's crops? It's going to be a mixed bag as usual. I've stuck to some of the standard vegetables (carrots, peas, green beans) for seeds. I've added some onions. They're 'super sweet' onions (not Walla-Wallas, and not Mayans as best I can tell) for some additional fun. And what about the plants? I've stuck to tomatoes and bell peppers. I'm hoping the additional space (both in the garden itself and between the plants) will allow the plants to do better than before. I'm cautiously optimistic about those. I've got some cucumbers (lemon? Never heard of them, but we'll see what happens) and spaghetti squash. The zucchini were gone by the time I got to buying plants, and the spaghetti squash will be helpful to me, as I can cook them and use them instead of pasta.

As with two years ago, I'll try and update you periodically so you can see how my garden grows. (wait, wasn't that a verse in a nursery rhyme?)