It's been awhile since I've updated this blog on my family's efforts to plant, harvest and hopefully consume some vegetables from a garden plot we've rented at COC. So here it is, the update you've all been waiting for!
We paused on the garden for much of September because it was still quite hot in the SCV, and we didn't want to see our efforts ruined by hell-like high temps. But finally on Saturday, we planted the following:
- Kale
- Brocolli
- Lettuce
- Beets
- Leeks
This was fantastic fun. I sit at a desk in front of three glowing screens working on abstract and complicated problems all day. Getting my hands into the dirt and planting these delicate little vegetables really made me smile. The sun was on my back, a light breeze was in the air, and my wife and I just had a blast organizing and planting these guys. It's hard work, but very rewarding.
We tried at first to run the smart water meter tubes to different parts of the garden bed. We figured we'd plant in and around the tubes and water nipples.
But this didn't work out because brocolli requires 12 to 18 square inches of space to grow. Kale requires quite a bit too, as do beets. So right off the bat, our irrigation plan was shot.
We also didn't run enough water tubes to different parts of the bed and just didn't have enough nipples to wet everything down.
Tired and somewhat discouraged, we pledged to come back the next day. I decided I'd get kneepads, some proper gloves and my tool bag to complete the work.
Sunday
Sunday we slept in and got caught up in a whole bunch of house tasks, so we didn't return to the garden except to measure for a barrier structure I planned to build.
Monday
I had Monday off of work and was so eager to finish my work at the Garden and give our vegetables a proper send-off that I headed to COC at 9:30am. I had everything and a plan: proper gardening stakes, decent gardening gloves, kneepads, my tool bag, plastic netting and loads of enthusiasm.
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| Lettuce, leeks, and beets in the foreground, wide space for broccoli in the background |
Next I got to work on Garden Defense. Again with the reference to building a civilization: you have to not only water your food, but protect it, and COC has an unchecked population of wild rabits. Despite this garden being enclosed inside a fence, there are multiple ways for rabits to get in and eat your hard-earned produce.
So I built a fence enclosure using four metal stakes and a plastic garden barrier.
It works, but only just so. Learn from my mistake here: unless you use PVC pipes to frame your Garden Defense system, don't use the plastic netting, spring for the more expensive but more rigid metal chicken-wire instead.
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| My rabbit barrier is sloppy compared to the PVC-reinforced barrier next door |
Until then, our little garden is being watered twice a day for ten minutes at a time. We're a little worried we're watering too much, but we'll return in a day or two and see. We anticipate about 40-50 days until our produce is ready to be picked and eaten.
I'll keep you up to date on what happens.
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