Garden I : The Basics

As I start these "garden blogs" I figured I should start with the basics.

For a couple of years I had this idea floating around in the back of my mind. I wanted to start a garden to grow organic vegetables. I loved the idea of working the ground and actually producing food to eat. Especially vegetables! I am always racking my brain to find new ways to get more involved with the community and I found that almost every city has a community garden that you can be part of. Instantly I was drawn to the idea. The two things I was searching for, community and gardening, could be found in one place. Is this heaven? No, It's Hopkins, MN.

It didn't take long for me to find a place in the community garden. All it took was 10 dollars and a trip to city hall. I started speaking with the secretary about the land, how many plots I should get, and how to get water to my garden plot. The conversation went something like this.

Me: How many plots do you think I should get?

Secretary: Well do you have a family, how many mouths are you feeding?

Me: Just me.

Secretary: A bachelor eh? I would say one is plenty, especially since this is your first time. Your going to have cucumbers coming out of your ears.

Me: AWESOME! I'll take one. What about water?

Secretary: There is a small creek that runs along the garden plots. You'll have to bring buckets to haul water.

Me thinking: "Lady, you just made my day. I completely enjoy the idea of hauling my own water."

15 minutes later I was the proud owner of a 20' by 20' plot of land, located 7 blocks south of the Hopkins movie thearte.

Since my garden plot wasn't going to be ready for a couple of weeks I had plenty of time to prepare. Of course I wasted all of that time, and a week after my garden was ready I made a trip to Menards to buy seeds. As I walked through the doors at Menards, I realized I should have done some research about what kind of vegetables I should be buying. There are so many different kinds.

I bought: Radishes, GREEN PEPPERS!!, cucumbers, butternut squash, sweet corn, onions, lettuce, eggplant, competition size pumpkin seeds, broccoli, tomatoes, and zucchini.

I was in way over my head.......