Upgraded Gardening

Look what I made!

It was about time for this blog to go from the "starting small" to the "growing tall."  We bought a house and, after two weeks of being too busy, too tired, and too everything, I finally put together a raised garden.  I used Bonnie brand Raised Bed Kit, which was about $39 and 5 bags of Scott's brand garden soil.  I really should mix in some compost and mulch, but I did this the stupid way, so I ran out of time. 
I had read all sorts of blogs and instructables and Home Depot's weekend projects and everyone said to kill the grass by covering it with newspapers and weights (bricks, stones, etc).  That way you can just rake up the dead grass instead of laboriously pulling it up.  Guess which I did?  Then I broke one of the corner stakes because I decided to be smart and hammer it down before leveling the area. Again, because I'm awesome.  Add to that the fact that I may have waited wayyy too long to plant the zuchinni and cucumber and they both developed Sad Leaf Syndrome (SLS) which is the umbrella term I use for all plant illnesses.
All in all, I'd say that this project was a difficulty level 4 on a scale of 1= I could do this drunk and 10= calling Home Depot crying.  I made it into difficulty level 7 with stupidity, but what can I say- I like a challenge.. that I create for myself.

Have a great week, my fellow brown-thumbed bloggers!

Christine

Craigslist Gardening

I was looking for nearby yard sales on craigslist when I happened upon a gardener's dream come true: herbs! fruit! veggies! $1 per plant already sprouted with soil in a little Styrofoam cup! I just had to stop by and I ended up picking up 5 plants.  They are all grown at home by this guy: http://www.therustedgarden.blogspot.com/  Apparently he does the sprout sale once a year.  Not too shabby at all.  I ended up picking out these bad boys:

Cucumbers

Bell pepper- California Wonder variety

Cayenne pepper for my spice-loving fiance

Green zucchini! Two plants that should really spread out.

Aconcagua! Which is.. apparently a type of sweet pepper that's long and narrow

All and all, I'm terribly excited.  I might need to briefly re-pot them before I plant them since we're moving in a few weeks and it will take some time to build and secure the raised bed garden of my dreams.  That is, if a raised bed is even possible.  I might have to plant the garden on the sloping side of the house due to the sun- the house faces exactly South-East and I doubt my future husband wants tomatoes on the front lawn.

Total money spent gardening today: $5.00

Grow grow grow,

Christine