26 July 2008
And Now for Something We Hope You’ll Really Like…
Posted by admin under: Uncategorized .
If the title to this post doesn’t conjure up memories of Rocky and Bullwinkle, you make me feel old.
Feelings of dread in regards to my rapidly approaching 30th birthday aside, today is a very special day. Yes, after months of promises….
*insert drum roll here*
I am posting pictures of my organic garden!
*insert applause and cheers here*
Without further ado, The Greener Christian.com presents: Todd’s Garden!
I wanted to plant an organic garden for several reasons. First, I wanted to show my dad that it could be done (he used to farm, and is not a big believer in the organic movement). To be honest, I wasn’t so sure I could pull it off. My last experience with gardening was when I was 13, and dad made me weed in our garden at home. Second, I believe that organic food is not only healthier, tastier, and more nutritious than traditionally grown food, I also believe that the methods used to produce organic food are much better for the environment. Third, I can’t afford to purchase many organic items at the store, since we’re on a limited budget. Including tools and seeds, this entire garden cost me around $45.
The only time that non-human powered machines were used was in the initial preparation of the ground (see below). After that, all weeding, cultivating, harvesting, etc. was (is) all done by hand. No pesticides or herbicides were used, and the only fertilizers used were the remains of the grasses that had grown there before it was tilled (not that there is anything wrong with other, organic fertilizers; I just didn’t want to spend the money).
I had estimated how much space each vegetable I planted required, and laid out my planting design on a piece of graph paper (yes, I’m a nerd. Sue me.). This actually worked very well, because I forgot to buy or make markers for where I had planted things. So I had to use twigs that had blown off the tree in our yard, and they were tough to see. So until my plants had sprouted, I navigated using my map.
This is what the ground looked like after it had been “prepared”. I cheated a bit. Because of the sheer size of the garden, and the fact that it was all grass before I got started, I asked my uncle to come over with his tractor and plow. I know, I’m terrible. But look at all the dead grass fibers that are still left! Can you imagine cutting through that with a spade? It would have taken me 3 weeks, working in my spare time, and I was already several weeks behind. Sue me.
This is how it looked just before I planted. I had gone through the whole thing with a garden fork, a spade, and my hand-tiller. The first time I used the hand-tiller, it took me two hours to do a 20×30 plot, and I had a total of 11 blisters on my poor, soft, computer-nerd hands. The soil was a bit wetter than I liked, but I was on a time crunch.
I didn’t have to do all of this alone. I had several helpers:
My 3-year-old, Luke;
My 5-month-old, Brennan;
My dog, Max (affectionately also known as “Dippy Dog” when he won’t shut up; note the vacant look in his eyes. He’s still available to a good home. Let me know if you’re interested);
And our kitten, Agnes (yes, I have a kitten. I know many of you are in shock. My wife asked me for some good female Anglo-Saxon names. I suggested Aethelhild, but she thought that was too odd. And Agnes isn’t?).
In our next post, we’ll get to see pictures of things actually growing in the dirt!
