We’ve had a small garden for a couple years now. My father-in-law makes a trip up from Houston twice a year to plan and graciously plant it for us. I just watch.
But this year, inspired by Mary and Dave, I’ve decided to enlarge our garden and try my hand at this growing stuff bizness.
And every project worth doing needs a drawing right?
Right there you can see the original 30 foot by 11 foot (ish) garden plan. If you were in my backyard right now you’d see five boxes made out of 2 x 10s on top of a layer of newspaper on top of a layer of cardboard on top of a layer of newspaper on top of dirt. In between those boxes is a bunch of gravel. In those boxes is nothing. Yet.
Two days of work and I don’t even have dirt. But, again, I have boxes and rocks. And so right now it doesn’t so much look like something that’ll feed my family as much as it looks like a retreat facility for yuppy Buddhists. All I need’s a bonsai tree.
I tell you all this because A)I truly lack the time to write about what I really want to write about, yet I would feel awful for neglecting you altogether and 2)I hate that I’m going out of town tomorrow because I know me. When I break momentum on a project I have a hard time finishing it. If momentum is broken it’s broken beyond repair. Gone. Over.
Hypothetically, I could, for instance, stop writing music every day and then one day realize I haven’t written a dang thing in three years. It’s possible. Hypothetically.
It’s also possible that three years from now I will still have boxes surrounded by gravel in my backyard and a refrigerator full of produce purchased at the Kroger. Anybody else have this problem?
Did you just count: “A, 2”?
We don’t have a kroger…
Our backyard does need grass seed though, so I’m feelin’ ya.
Thats funny. I would love a garden but since I live in a Rental I can’t get motivated to break ground in the back yard. Besides, all I really have in my yard are weeds instead of grass. Say hi to Ben for me.
Mine is more a killing problem. As in, living things come to stay in my house and then they die. No matter what I do or don’t do. I inherited this special talent from my father, so I try not to inflict much damage on God’s creation by just going to the farmer’s market or the organic produce section.
Laura@Texas in Africa and I suffer from the same problem. I’ve been known to kill cactus and silk flowers. We do have a garden; or will when the 2 feet of snow leaves the back yard. My husband tills the ground and plants the seeds. The kids do the watering. I do get to prepare and eat the veggies and strawberries though.
Shaun, one of the many, I repeat-many, good reasons why God brought Becky into your life, was to encourage you to finish your projects, in a loving way, of course. (without Todd there would be many “susan projects” without any completion).
Regarding your God given talent, there’s an inside voice reminding you to stay the course, right?
i’m not getting the cardboard and newspaper thing, or the order that you have it all stacked… but i’m from jersey city, too, not exactly the agricultural center of the world. newspapers and cardboard on top of the dirt? this actually looks like the kind of gardening i could get into, so a little enlightenment would be awesome.
i know you’re strapped for time, so if any of your readers know what you’re doing, that’d be great, too…
Isn’t Jersey the “Garden State?”
The newspaper, cardboard, newspaper layers keeps weeds from growing up through the garden. I’ll put compost and soil in the boxes (10 inches deep).
Make sense now?
Working on a bit of gardening, myself. So far I’m in the planning stages, as in clearing the plot of land under the oak in the backyard from all the branches we’ve piled up over the years (and the weeds that have grown up over the branches), so that we have some place to put things.
After that, I’ll have to see just how much sun the area get, and purchase plants accordingly. Even if it’s just cleared, though, it’ll look a lot better than it currently does!
Will this process work in south Texas like it does in Tennessee? I mean with the high temperatures?
I would rather grow steaks in my back yard but I think it is illegal to have livestock in the city limits.
Yes, except mine is with finishing non-fiction books. It’s especially bad b/c I borrow them from a christian university library and don’t like to return them until I’m done…which means the books are overdue, A LOT. At least you don’t get fined if you don’t finish your garden.
I have the momentum problem with many things except gardening. Right now I’m chomping at the bit to get started (in Minnesota) with my garden. I’m impressed that you are taking the time to do it up right, which makes for a lot less work/maintenance in the long run.
I have found that the solution to the momentum dilemma is to figure out, in each case, the REAL REASON why you are unwilling to finish a project. If you can figure that out, and deal with it, it’s somewhat easier to get back on track.
heavyd, my father-in-law is in Houston. He’s got a garden going down there. Not sure what he grows but it’s green and he eats it.
No cows.
Good advice, JavaJoy.
Shaun-
I knew that. My wife went to Richardson Heights with your wife and she told me that they had moved to Sugarland.
heavy
shaun…
sorry it took me a week to get back to this. jersey is indeed the garden state, but that would be south jersey. if they had named the state for what goes on in north jersey, it wouldn’t be appealing in the least. now i understand what you’ve got going on… the dirt that’s at the bottom of your newspaper and cardboard isn’t the dirt that you’re planting your seeds in. that makes lot more sense to me now… thanks!