Gardening

Some things in life you either love or hate. Like cilantro. (love) Or sports. (hate) Or how Bend smells. (really hate) I'm still on the fence about gardening. I think I love it. I know I still very much love the idea of it. But for a "completion oriented" person (what other kind of person is there? I mean really? "Oh, I really love doing this task and don't care if I ever get done" OK, well, maybe...), the fact that the flower beds I have weeded already need weeding again... and I haven't even come close to doing the first round on all the areas.... well, that is just crazy making. But what I am talking about here is produce gardening. I have plotted, planned and visualized a masterpiece here. And it may not be too soon to concede defeat. No, no plants are actually in the ground in the beautiful 30x50 area that Dad tilled for me.My little seedlings are now leggily reaching toward the "sun" in their various locations between mom and my houses. I have started everything from basil to zucchini- I estimate about 200 seedlings.

Before:
After:
The flaw in this plan may be:Yes, as cute as they are- they themselves are on the fence about farm life. E is trying to work through her bug issues. She hollers like a logger with every sighting, which makes outside time...well, rather loud. S had a bad experience with a very low flying helicopter last week which has amplified his general distrust of farm equipment or aircraft. He LOVES these thing in books... just not in loudly reverberating real life. So, HE runs screaming for the house if anything flies overhead or if anyone starts a motor anywhere on the farm. And L is auditioning for a part in "Click Clack Moo" and spends most of his time trying to get off the blanket and over to munch some grass. Consequently, we have some productivity issues.
That said, we do have a nice garden in my "old area" of raised beds and now berry/potato patch (see below for what a great idea that was). We have already eaten lettuce from this garden and will soon be having new potatoes, snap peas, strawberries, herbs, leeks and more.
I have learned a couple things already- and learning in gardening requires filtering through ALLOT of information to find a concise "do/don't do" list. Here is a start on mine:

• Do use special seed starter potting soil to start your seeds. Those 200 seedlings? That took three rounds of seed planting.
• Raspberries may prefer morning sun and afternoon shade. I think I will have to move my three rows sometime next year. (and also try to not to overspray them with an herbicide)
  
• Apparently, potatoes and berries are not good "companion plants". I will let you know how this goes since my potato patch is between the raspberries, blueberries and strawberries.
• There may be more than one way to "harden off" seedlings. I have been gently shaking the dresser my plants are on, brushing them with duster, and have a fan set on them to simulate the wind. Mom told me that she threw the pots of starts that were on her table outside a few days ago..... They seem fine.

If all goes well, you are all invited over for a squash extravaganza!