How does your garden grow?

From recreational and aesthetic (or at least hoping to be aesthetic) to addictive and obsessive.
I can't recall exactly when I got the gardening "bug" - probably when I was a kid. I just didn't know it at the time because back then I looked at gardening as a chore. Now I realize that it is healthy, fun, healing, organic, flavorful, rewarding, fresh, sustainable, exercise.

About 8 years ago, shortly after Tom and I bought our first place and got married we dabbled a little bit in "gardening". Our new place needed a little sprucing up. It was so blaaa. We lived in a Condo complex though and there are rules against altering the common areas. A neighbor warned us that we couldn't plant a garden.

Unfortunately, I have this bad habit where, when somebody tells me "you can't" I usually say "watch me!" So we planted our first garden. Then promptly got reprimanded by the Home Owners Association and could not make any further changes. Glad we don't live there any more, I simply couldn't survive with out a garden.

Shortly after having kids I rapidly became aware of my family's environment, health and well being, what we clean our house and bodies with and and what we eat and where it comes from. Anyone who knows me well will remember my Melaleuca faze 5 years ago. Which, by the way was not a faze at all, I still love the stuff. I wasn't just trying to sell you some crap to make a quick buck. I really didn't want dangerous toxins and carcinogens seeping into your skin or wafting through my home - or yours. (check out this site to see what's in your products - Skin Deep.)

During my quest for more healthful home and body products I found there are healthier alternative medicines, essential oils, healthier ways of cooking and eating etc. which lead to reading lots of health related literature. Organic, Sustainable, Local and Farm Fresh were becoming more prominent in my vocabulary as a result money was becoming less prominent in the bank. Hummm, who knew being a hippy would cost so much money. I would daydream about one day having my very own organic herb and vegetable garden and was certain that would be both cheap and easy. Only problem at that time we were renting a house with a yard that was all cement patio and not garden friendly. (Very swimming friendly though.)

So, when house hunting (2 years ago) I was adamant about finding a house with a yard that would be appropriate for a garden. I came across this listing that claimed to have "mature, organic fruit trees" and "great soil, a gardener's dream!". With these lovely pictures of raised beds and lots of pretty green bushes and trees and grass. Sounded good to me.

This way I'd be certain of where my food was coming from and what was put on/in it during the growing process. You can imagine my excitement last year when it was finally time to break ground and get growing.

That didn't go so well..........my garden was failing miserably. The trees were diseased. My back was aching and my bank account was dwindling more rapidly than before. I asked everyone I knew what the problem could possibly be. I went over and over it in my head. What could I have done wrong? Then I took a few months gardening hiatus, watched Oprah and ate bon-bons until the first of the year rolled around. After all that rest and relaxation (yeah right!) I was full of determination to make things grow this year. I went to classes and read books, joined a garden club and watched youtube videos, asked friends what I could do differently or better this year. What I learned was that my garden should have been a success last year. I'll just blame it on the dirt cause it sure wasn't my fault. (I wouldn't admit it even if it was.) So to prove that my thumbs are not brown I decided to test the soil - Whadda-ya-know. It was extremely nitrogen deficient. I knew it couldn't have been any thing I had done. How does one fix a nitrogen deficiency? What's that you say? Chicken Poop? Excellent Idea! That means I have no other choice than to get pet chickens. That goes right along with my belief (thanks in part to my up bringing, and to Michael Pollan's books and the movies Super Size Me. and Food Inc.) of healthy eating and knowing where your food comes from and what is in it. It's settled then. Chickens it is!

This is the point in the story where recreation starts to turn addictive and obsessive.
In January I built a my very own chicken coop with just a smidgen of help from Tom. In February we got our chickens. In March I discovered that It would take a whole lotta poo and many, many months to create good composted soil. I didn't yet have a lot of chicken poo or a lot of months to spare. I wanted to get planting by March. Yep, that's right. March. Remember, when somebody tells me "you can't" I usually say "watch me!" So in order to have the ability to plant in March (or at all this year. 4 chickens don't really make that much poo.) we needed to bring in dirt. And lots of it. So we had 5 yards of Malard Plus Compost delivered to our driveway. Tom shoveled and shoveled and shoveled. All that fresh (but stinky), new, beautiful, fluffy, goodness was beautiful in my yard even before we started planting. I have a new love and appreciation for dirt. No lie. I totally dig dirt. No pun intended.

I started my seeds indoors under an aero garden light and on top of a seed warming mat. I put up a temporary chicken fence so the girls couldn't devour the tasty new leaves and in mid April (I know that is before the last frost) I planted outside.

No I'm not growing gallons of milk - these are my homemade cloches (a little trick I learned at a Master Gardeners class) to keep my little plants cozy on cold nights and to keep them safe from birds and bugs etc.

Last years garden on June 1st = lots of bare dirt and empty tomato cages.

This years garden on June 16th = Peas and Tomatoes and Beans, Oh My.

All that research, hard work and new dirt seems to be paying off.