I have to admit something. In addition to having a theme song for
every new adventure, I tend to decide on a project, embark on it
zealously and then move on.

I was writing an article on school gardens for Kiwi Magazine (Sept
issue) and decided the best way to get motivated was to finally find a
spot in my yard and create a vegetable garden. I had in mind that I
wanted to spearhead an effort to create a garden at my daughter’s
preschool and decided this was my audition to see if I could really
make it happen.

I had created a compost pile which was being turned into fertilizer
gold by thousands of hard-working worms. Unfortunately, that was on
the opposite side of the property from the perfect garden spot.

I read about lasagna gardening and decided that was the best route for
my garden since the soil was not rich and was also very rocky. I
carefully tapped a series of posts to mark my territory but ended up
making the garden way too big for my first attempt. It’s currently 8′
x 20′. I carefully laid newspapers on the ground and covered them
with about 5 inches of fresh compost which took me at least 10 trips
from the compost pile. Sweating profusely, I filled every inch of my
too-big garden with worm-filled compost.

I decided to plant tomato plants instead of starting with seeds
because I wanted immediate gratification. But, I did plant seeds for
cucumber, beans, watermelon and pumpkin and they’re all doing quite
well. This summer seems to be the perfect conditions for a vegetable
garden and the site I chose seems to be working out well.

I am only telling all of you this because I often just wing it. I
started throwing table scraps into a pile of leaves in a place where
my dogs couldn’t access and *poof* I have a very productive compost
pile. I toss in shredded newspaper and hay, turn it every so often,
but largely ignore it. The worms do all of the work.

I also largely ignore my garden. I just make sure it’s not too dry
and that the tomato plants are tied to stakes and leave it alone. I
don’t weed, trim, groom or talk to it. And it is growing like mad.

Some plants are faring better than others, but the lesson I learned is
to just give it a go and you’ll be so surprised. And, if it doesn’t
work the first time, step back, rethink it and try again.

The best part of all of this experimentation is that my daughter wants
to be outside most of the day to corral worms, water the garden and
check on her plants. I get great exercise from digging the compost
and then taking it for a ride in the wheel barrow. And, we all can’t
wait to taste the fresh vegetables that we grew without pesticides or
products.

I am trying to figure out how and where to plant a garden in my yard but I have some serious obstacles. As I mentioned before, I have two very wild and crazy dogs (Mya and Stewpot) from Bratislava (kidding) who have the run of my backyard. When I say “run,” it isn’t in jest. They have run through my backyard chasing critters and actually made the pachysandra retreat and die. We have a wooded lot, so there isn’t a perfect spot in the back to plant where I wouldn’t need a 6-ft fence to keep the mutts out.

The front yard is more lush (no dogs) but the deer have realized through their pee-mail network (my husband’s joke – we have email, critters have peemail) that the dogs don’t go there. I really should install a sneeze shield and take-out containers in the front because it is one giant deer salad bar. And, I don’t want to be the eyesore of the neighborhood by building a 6-ft fence around a garden plot (although the neighbor across the way is very unfriendly, which is an incentive to build something and paint it pink).. But I really want to grow vegetables. I refuse to take down trees and container gardening just doesn’t inspire me.

I need an intervention. My mom who is 82 tells me stories about the garden her father planted and how her mom got them through winters during the Depression by canning and storing every fruit and vegetable. We always had a large vegetable garden when I was growing up in Pennsylvania. I actually used to dislike it because one of my chores was weeding it. If I had to write a country song about it, it would be titled: I Was Composting Before Composting Was Cool.