It’s finally beginning to look a lot like a garden, or at least the makings of one. Now that that I’ve cleaned the slate, it’s time to roll up my sleeves and get down to the business of creating that twenty-five dollar victory garden I’ve been talking and writing so much about.
This video as usual provides the highs and lows (opportunities as I like to call them) of those unanticipated challenges. But that’s what I like about this series so much. Unlike most television shows that don’t let you see the “problems”, I’m making lemonade out of lemons. This time, the barely-used tiller decides to quit working, as you’ll see. But all in all, my garden will be better for it as I described in this video.
In real-time, it’s raining…again. The garden is almost completely planted. I’m saving a few patches to stage some plants to extend the harvest. But, that may not be a problem if we don’t get a bunch of sun in here soon to dry things out and give these plants a chance to photosynthesize. They’ve been planted now for two weeks and they look the same as they did in containers inside.
I’m catching up on my video backlog so I’d say by middle of next week, you’ll be watching episodes in real-time. I’m still encouraged but certainly frustrated with this very unusual and challenging weather we’re having.
Current Expense Count:
Seed starting Mix: 2 bags….$7.00
Twine for bamboo………….$2.27
Two tomato plants…………$5.28
Total……………………….$14.55
Available……………………$10.45
About Joe Lamp'l
Joe Lamp'l is the Host and Executive Producer of the award winning PBS television series Growing A Greener World. Off camera, Joe dedicates his time to promoting sustainability through his popular books, blog, podcast series, and nationally syndicated newspaper columns. Follow Joe on Twitter
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Margaret
http://howtomakecompost.info
Great video Joe. Now this is REALITY TV! You were out of breath, and who could blame you! Somehow seeing you hard at work and not smiling from ear to ear does not discourage me from wanting to dig in. You can tell you are content with the time you invested because you will reap a harvest soon.
Love the editing too. You’ve become quite the storyteller!
Shirley Bovshow
Hey Jeph. Man, I feel for you. That double digging is really hard stuff. But, I’m still convinced, breaking through that hard pan layer is like magic over time. Well worth it!
That narrow strip has me a bit worried. I’ve watched it for a couple years thinking it gets all day sun. Well, it doesn’t. The angle of my roof, my neighbor’s roof and the dang maturing tree branches are killing me. That on top of not enough sun so far already b/c of all the rain.
Anyway, It’s still May so I’m hopeful. Glad you like the video. I have fun with it too. I never know how it’s going to end up since they’re all pretty dry to start. So far so good. But, I’m struggling with this next one.
Stay tuned. Should be out on or before Thursday.
JL
LMAO Another great video – it starts off so serene and earthy, and then just gets downright grimy! I tried tilling what’s going to be my raspberry/asparagus bed, and though I was making good progress until I realized I was only getting down maybe 8 inches at most, and scooching along the top of heavy clay/hard pan. Had to double dig the whole thing, and then ran the tiller down the deeper trenches. Whotta pain!
I’m with TC – the bee startled me too! Very nice surround sound effect with the headphones on.
So how many hours of sun do you get down that narrow strip each day?
I’ve got a horse farm near here where I go for free compost. Folks should definitely check out their local farms/stables to see if folks are looking for someone to take the stuff away for free!
Hey TC. The leaf compost is a favorite of mine too and I’ve been using it for years. Can’t see why anyone would let perfectly good leaves go to waste.
Regarding that “fly” at 2:26, I’d like to think that was a bee, demonstrating how eco-friendly my garden is already! I think I saw another bee chasing it if you go back and look again. We don’t have flies here in Mayberry! 🙂
Whenever you’re ready to send on your music, I’m ready. Thanks for checking in.
JL
That fly that buzzed through at 2:26 into the show gave me a scare. And I can sure relate to that manual labor with the diggin fork Joe. Our little tiller has been out of commission for the past several years, but thankfully it’s back up and runnin. While it was down, me and the diggin fork became close friends.
And we’ve been putting leaf compost down on our gardens for years.
Loved the acoustic guitar too! I keep sayin I’ll record you a piece and I hope to very soon!
Awesome! Even if it it’s not an ideal gardening year because of the rain, all that feeding the soil makes it that much richer next season. I’m looking forward to seeing what you have planted.
Brilliant! Bravo! That animatronic worm was very convincing! Did you work with The Jim Henson Company on it? (kidding)
This latest installment reminded me of two things: 1) why we use raised beds now and 2) that I needed to look up where to get free local compost. Sure enough, Google pointed me to a place in San Antonio where I can go pick it up. Rock on, Joe!
Joe: The best Rototiller is the head gardener and a garden Fork.
John