I'm going to use this blog to try and document the growth, success, and possible miserable failure of my attempt to create an urban garden in a normal sized backyard in the Five Points area of Huntsville, Alabama. I'll have fairly regular entries that will document my day to day tasks, tricks I've picked up, things that did not work at all, and my overall goal of becoming as self-sufficient as possible. I'm a new home owner, so that challenge is going to be incorporated on a regular basis as well.
Let's start out with a little backstory, shall we? I have to admit that this isn't my first garden, just the first that I've done completely on my own. I've worked on gardens for the past few years, but always with my father. I must admit that he did most of the work, and I came up with most of the plants and ideas that just never seemed to work out quite right. He passed away this past winter from a long illness, so it's all mine now. My wife, Kaylin, and I moved into his house, and I've taken over the backyard plot.
I've decided to make the space even bigger this year, almost doubling the area I've used in the past. It's now 40'x34' for 1320 square feet. I feel both incredibly excited and a little overwhelmed by the amount of space. I've plotted out my crops using Excel, and have, in theory, set aside proper spacings for each plant.
I rented a rear-tine tiller yesterday from Mullins Equipment Rental here in Huntsville and it set me back to the tune of $88. I know this sounds bad, but I wanted the bigger more expensive tiller. I've rented the smaller ones in the past, and have found the extra $20 to be money well spent. I have the tiller from Friday 3/19 until noon on Monday 3/22. Not bad, right? I spend two and a half hours tilling yesterday and it completely wore me out. I mean, big time. A few hand blisters, a decent arm scrape, and I lost a pinky toe in the tiller tines, but no other wounds. Sorry, just kidding about the pinky toe. All day yesterday I kept thinking about how I didn't want to lose a toe, but running the tiller is no more dangerous than walking behind a lawnmower, so don't worry about that.
In the next day or two I have to go through the entire plot with a garden rake and pick out all the tufts of grass and clover that are left over from the tilling. I can tell you from experience that if that doesn't happen, you have grass growing in between your crops. Been there, dealth with that. The first week of your garden is possibly the most work, but if you cut corners, you will feel it the entire season. Weeds and grass will crop up quicker that you can hoe them out and they will take water and nutrients from your plants, which will result in smaller plants and smaller yeilds. I have to tell myself this over and over because bending over and weeding is my least favorite part. Seriously, it's really horrible.
Music Listened to While Gardening Today Eli, the Barrow Boy-The Decemberists
Corrina, Corrina-Bob Dylan All I Do-The Lightning Seeds
I'll Fly Away-Gillian Welch Method Acting-Bright Eyes
England-The National Off the Hook-CSS
Method Acting-Bright Eyes Well, until next time, go outside, bend over, and put your hands in the dirt. It feels amazing and you won't regret it, I promise!
Posts
