Mad About Gardening

Speaking of getting in over our heads, we seem to have gotten a bit enthused about gardening this season. It all stemmed from concerns over planting the same thing year after year in the same place. My understanding is that you want to diversify for a number of reasons, but I was driving by a corn field the other day and realized that farmers plant the same thing for generations. Either way, when I get an interesting bit of information, my OCD kicks in and I can't let it go. This year I decided that I would not plant so many tomatoes in our plot.

The problem is, I still want to plant tomatoes. I toyed with the idea of swapping plots with someone, but didn't follow through with it. I then had the brilliant idea to get a plot at the community garden across the road. They do a fabulous job over there, providing everything you need, and the greenhouse alone is worth the price of admission. Plus, you can't beat the location. After the disaster with the critters eating all of my seedling, however, as well as the news that there are groundhog communities that have been preying on people's garden plot, I realized that things were all so rosy. I still have the plot, I'm just not sure if I'll plant everything I have over there.

R is organizing our community garden plot, it's her baby, and I managed to finagle a half plot nearby, so I can plant lots of tomatoes there. We also cleared a small plot in our backyard in our massive garden. The total plot is way too big, and subdividing it makes it much more manageable. I will plant some tomatoes and squash, maybe some peppers. The problem is, there is a groundhog family camped out right next to the garden, so they will chow down on the plants. My only hope is to try to protect them with makeshift shelters, but groundhogs are pretty resourceful. This will be interesting, no doubt.

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to mike dunn for the pic.