As most everyone knows, Colorado is not the easiest place to grow a vegetable garden. We have a short growing season and heavy clay soils, damaging winds, temperatures in the spring can range from the 20s to the 80s, and we’ve been known to get hail the size of golf balls in the summer.
Despite all this (and my better judgment), I have decided to take the plunge and see if I can grow anything in our overgrown, somewhat neglected backyard. Yesterday, for the first time in my life, I roto-tilled. Yup. And it was fun! Besides not being able to move my upper body the next day, there’s somehow a huge amount of satisfaction in knowing that what was once a section of rocky, hard clay with some weeds is now a garden, complete with walkways, waiting expectantly for its vegetable residents.
Despite all this (and my better judgment), I have decided to take the plunge and see if I can grow anything in our overgrown, somewhat neglected backyard. Yesterday, for the first time in my life, I roto-tilled. Yup. And it was fun! Besides not being able to move my upper body the next day, there’s somehow a huge amount of satisfaction in knowing that what was once a section of rocky, hard clay with some weeds is now a garden, complete with walkways, waiting expectantly for its vegetable residents.
After a full day was spent tilling, building raised beds and shoveling lots and lots of topsoil and compost, the fence went up. Initially intended to keep a certain someone from trampling my delicate seedlings, we soon realized that our best intentions at keeping Lucy out of the garden were…well, not good enough. With Lucy, where there’s a will there’s a way. Seems like she’s been in there more than I have. We’ve rebuilt and reinforced the fence a few times since its installation.
This weekend the potatoes (red and Yukon gold), snow peas, spinach, and broccoli have gone in. Apparently these plants are frost hardy, and I’m hoping that’s true because I know for a fact that we haven't seen the last of the snow this year.
Broccoli seedlings from Fort Collins Nursery
I’m trying to be as organic as possible and stay away from chemical fertilizers and pesticides. We’re only going to plant what we know we’ll eat (i.e. no radishes or other ridiculous vegetables). I’m also doing a little experiment on how much money has gone into the garden versus what we end up getting out of it this summer. So far, we’ve totaled about $100. Couldn’t believe how much stores charge for topsoil. Come on, people, it’s dirt!
Even if we don't break even I’d still be happy with home grown produce. You just can’t beat fresh from the garden vegetables – the hard-earned fruit of long, sweaty hours weeding and watering.
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