Well, we’ve been getting ready to plant our first garden down here. It is much more complicated than I expected. Of course the weather is warm so we don’t need to worry about frost, but there are many other things to consider.

1. sun – we live in the valley so there isn’t as much sunlight here as there would be up on the hill. When we first got here there was sun out back nearly all day, but as the sun moves lower in the sky, now we only have about 3 hours of full sun a day, and the garden is partly shaded on one side or the other the rest of the time

2. ants – well I guess you know there are lots of ants here. They like to carry away small seeds, so we have had to sprout everything. Not such a big deal when you are doing cukes or zuchini, but try doing lettuce or onions from seed – not very easy.

3. soil – we aren’t quite sure what the soil is like here. It looks nice and dark, and you would think that since we are near the creek it would be rich. It is also full of clay and tons of rocks, and it seems to dry out fast – which I was not expecting. We also suspect that it may have been sprayed with chemicals by the past owners to keep it from growing wild. We found some nasty chemicals in the garage – substances that have been banned in Canada for years! We have no idea where these were sprayed, or how long they stay in the soil.

4. water – well in rainy season that is not a problem – but rainy season should be over in a month or so, and then we’ll have to figure out a way to keep things moist. Another twist is that tomatoes seem to get blight very easily here, so we can’t let them get rainwater on the leaves, we’ll have to put them under some kind of shelter and just water the roots.

5. insects – we have no idea what possible pests we’ll have to deal with. We already know that we can’t leave the tomato plants on the ground or they’ll be eaten by the white moths, so we have been trying to scrounge up big pots to put them in, and then we’ll have to build a platform for them to sit on.

So here’s our progress so far on the garden. I’m waiting for some of the plants to get their first true leaves before I transplant them. Only the cukes have managed that so far.

Step 1 – soak the seeds

Step 2 – Keeping the seeds moist

Step 3- seeds start to sprout

Step 4- transfer sprouts to dirt

Step 5 – let sprouts develop some roots and leaves

Step 6 – let the plants get bigger

getting bigger!

Step 7 – transfer to a bigger cup

Step 8 – Put the plants out in the sun to grow and get real leaves

I want to divide the garden up using the square foot garden method. That will be the next project, as the cucumbers are ready to plant now.