Frum Outdoorsman: Rare but Possible

I started my summer vegetable garden today, I have been thinking about it for some time. I have planted a garden on and off for the last 7 years or so and have had varied results. This is the first year that I have actually planting seedlings, I usually plant already grown plants and watch them grow to their full height. I have always been wary of seedlings- too much water, too little water etc… and they may not grow.

However this year I have the best plot of land to garden that I have ever had. My house in Monsey has a fenced off south-east facing rectangle in the middle of the yard. The sunlight is full and there is a garden hose that reaches my plot. I was very excited when I realized it was planting season and tonight I went to Home Depot to buy some seedlings and plants.

I then returned and set to work on churning the soil and making a halfway decent garden. This year I decided to make rows- instead of doing it ghetto style and just dumping the plants in the ground. I made three rows about 15 feet long with trenches on either side of the rows. I must say it looks very cool with the raised rows of dark moist worm filled soil. Even my roommate thought I made purchased soil- soil is free in my mind- and besides I want my garden to be organic and it is sort of ( I am sure the plants I planted were not organic seed or heirloom seeds)

I also found a bunch of fairly sizable pots to put on my deck and experiment with different locations and away from animals. I planted one cherry tomato plant in a large flower pot on my porch, I had a large rectangular pot in which I planted sweet basil, Oregano went into another small pot.

In the garden itself I tried to keep the seedlings separate from the already grown plants. For seedlings- I planted three areas of each of the following. Yellow squash, cantaloupe, green beans, spinach and cucumbers. For regular plants- I planted 6 different types of tomatoes and 4 different types of peppers. I hope the seeds grow, I am curious- if they don’t I can always get some plants. Its supposed to rain the next few days- so hopefully the roots will take hold.

My next project is to start a compost bin. I need to build one, my yard is a mess of downed trees, overgrown lawn, leaves and pine needles- welcome to my neighborhood, lawn care and garbage disposal is some sort of luxury that many people don’t do- so cleaning up and then making the compost bin should give me something to do when I need to take a break from riding or hiking.

I will take some pictures tomorrow and put them up.