Na Na Na Na, Hey Hey Hey, Goodbye

My bi-line states: What we've learned about life in our community garden. Well, I've learned this week how much I'm going to miss my two Gardening Divas. They are in the enviable position of being footloose and fancy free and are traveling to Las Vegas, Nevada to have fun for Suzy's birthday. They will be traveling from state to state, eating local cuisine, visiting the largest White Sneaker in the World, and having all kinds of fun.

Yet the garden must grow on.

As I was sketching out my garden plans, horror of horrors I realized that I should have already planted my eggplant seeds indoors. Ugh. They need to be planted 6-8 weeks BEFORE they go into the ground, 3 weeks after the threat of frost. I've never started plants from scratch and I'll tell you what got me so excited...this great book I've already mentioned that Suzy found, Grow Great Grub by Gayla Trail. I have a little crush on Ms. Trail, she comes up with cheap, easy, creative ways to garden. Instead of buying peat pots she suggests using toilet paper rolls. Genius, I say.

First I took four rolls and tied them together. I filled them up with seed starting soil (not premoistened as suggested, so I hope I don't fail Gardening 101).

Eggplant seeds need to be planted only a 1/4 inch deep. Aren't they teeny tiny?

I covered them with soil and then watered, which was an interesting event.



You wouldn't think watering would be interesting but the water sat at the top of the roll and seemed to seep into the toilet paper roll instead of sinking into the soil.

Why eggplants? As mentioned before, BP makes an awesome Eggplant Parmesan that I sampled this evening (don't hate the player, hate the game) and I'm angling for
Eggplant and Pepper Parmesan Sandwiches. I have a sneaking suspicion Big Bear aka Awesome Husband might put some of his recipes as we grow.

Visualize World Peas

There is nothing like the first planting of the year. Seriously, I feel so accomplished and I barely did anything but boss folks around. I did soak the seeds over night, that should count for something.

The pea seeds were actually soaked a week ago but then I went into the wilds of Michigan with the express direction to my husband to plant them while I was gone. I'm sorry to throw my main man under the bus but said seeds were not planted but rotting in a cup on my counter when I got back. Yuck-tastic.

I regrouped, soaked the leftover seeds for 24 hours and then delegated power. BP, my husband (and love of my life), dug my two little trenches (1 1/2 inches deep) and SP put the pretty little seeds 2 inches apart. I'm being the guinea pig in our neighborhood crew. We wanted to do peas last year but we just got overwhelmed with garden plans that the date to plant passed us by. Spring and fall are best to plant peas so I'm taking a little piece of my small space to try them out.

Now I am worried about the whole trellis thing. If any of my five followers (count um' five) have any hints on this situation. I want to know what works best and then I'll share my findings.

I also prepared my dirt from last year with a mixture of manure and humus. I also put in some granulated lime. I hope I haven't "hooked up" my soil too much. Time will tell. Sometimes I'm so excited to plant I don't take the time to make my soil the best it can be. I hope I did better this year.

Why peas? BP makes a slammin' stir fry and these pea pods will pump it up a notch.