Wow—talk about progress. Tami is making loads of the stuff! Or trenches, as the case may be. Not only has she constructed her planter beds, but filled them as well. Okay, her assistant Jason helped. But hey, he misses his garden. He’s aching for the chance to get his hands into the dirt again and Tami has offered him a little slice of hers to ease his pain. A bit dramatic, I know. What do you expect from a fiction author?
Back to the garden. One of the things I enjoy most about helping others learn to garden is the fact I end up learning something new, each and every time. With Mandy, I learned how easy radish were to grow and what wonderful companions they made in the garden. With Ashley and Julie I learned that tomatoes are much hardier than I ever dreamed. But an attack of leaf miners and a tipsy topsy turvy planter will do that for a gal!
Today I learned a tip for growing with raised planters. After constructing the frame and lining it with weed fabric, add a nice layer of hay across the bottom before you add your dirt. When I asked Jason the reason for this added tip, he shrugged. “Don’t know. My grandmother told me it’s what she always did, but wouldn’t give me a reason.”
Sounds like my mother sharing one of her recipes. “Oh you know, you add it to taste.”
To taste. Add it because it works. Hmph. But not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I’ll take the advice and run with it. “Whatever works” is my motto, though I’m assuming it has something to do with better drainage and built-in compost!
She’s carved a trench along her existing fence for her beans. Fences provide excellent support for climbing beans. Or cucumbers. Both would love this space! And the square out in front of her planters?
Tami has big plans for that area. Watermelons. Tons and tons of wild watermelons. She’s given them their own space to roam free which is smart. Watermelons need the room and while you could plant the seed in the corner of the planter and allow the vines to hang over the side and run to their heart’s content, why not scoop out the existing grass and give them their own little slice of heaven? Other than it’s a lot of back-breaking work, that is.
Oh, well. Jason did say he loves to garden!
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