Organic Gardening

 April 2010: After what seemed like a really long winter, spring has arrived and the garden is finally planted.

The first step was to put in the drip lines. We still had two unused zones on our system so we dedicated one to our garden.

We couldn't find organic plants anywhere around here so we ordered from a place in California: www.naturalgardening.com, the oldest certified organic nursery in the US. Later we found that WalMart and Home Depot are carrying organic seeds now so that's what we'll do next year.

Meanwhile, the irises and other plants in the back yard are starting to get green and bloom...

So in the raised beds we planted strawberries, cantaloupe, squash, zucchini, onions, potatoes, green beans, sweet peas, cucumbers, spinach, romaine lettuce, and carrots. Whew! Some from plants and some from seeds.

The original house plan was to include a rooftop garden system but due to budget constraints we decided to cover the whole rooftop terrace with the recycled rubber pavers. But we found something on the internet recently that would allow us to still grow some veggies up there.

It's called a "Grow Box" that is 30”L x 15”W x 12”H with a 4 gal. water well underneath that allows for watering only once a week. You can check them out at: www.agardenpatch.com. So we ordered six and planted them with tomatoes, peppers, and herbs. This also required us to run a pipe up to the roof with a spigot and a hose so we could easily add water when we needed to. The hose and pipe system is attached to our irrigation pump from the underground rainwater cistern. Pretty cool!

Now we just monitor the water needs upstairs and down, and chant "Grow, baby, grow!"