Gardening

My thigh and calf muscles are screaming at me today. I spent the majority of the weekend working in the yard/garden and in addition to the muscle pain, I'm sporting a lovely pink hue today to prove it.

Since I was in the desert this time last year I didn't plant a garden. Which basically means that my raised bed in the back yard has been neglected for a year. It was inexcusably bad. And being raised a silly city girl meant that when I saw a garden snake in the front yard (and screamed) that I refused to tackle the overgrown back garden until Jim was present. It didn't help when he said he saw a bunch of them when he was cutting the grass. Great, just great. So they are under the front porch AND the back shed. I'm thrilled.

But I finally planted stuff! I planted several roma seedlings together, then a Better Boy, and a Brandywine. (Good god I missed my tomatoes last year. Buying them in the store is just awful for me now.) I also planted peppers, but I'm not sure exactly what kind. My FIL gave me some seedlings and I hope they are at least all the same kind of pepper...because I planted them all together. I had to tear out some of the strawberry plants this year because they went crazy. Next year they're getting their own bed and Jim and I will build another raised bed next to them for the 'maters and peppers.

I also started an herb garden, something I've wanted for years. My mint came back strong and hearty this year and I'm wondering if I need to get lattice or something for it to climb. I can't remember if it's peppermint or spearmint and the internets don't help much image wise. I'm pretty sure it's spearmint because peppermint is supposed to be strong-smelling and have teeth on the leaves. Regardless, I'm looking forward to some really good mojitos this summer. I also planted cilantro (Homemade, organic salsa from my garden. My mouth it already watering.), rosemary, and lavender. The rosemary is also from my FIL and I hope it was all rosemary, because like the peppers it all looked the same and I just planted it all together.

I really wanted a bigger garden this year but since my strawberries mutated I just didn't have room. Next year I'm hoping to plant onions, taters, cucumbers, green beans, and maybe some lettuce or cabbage. I'm not sure if I need to prep the ground for any of these so I'll need to do some research this summer. I remember my grandma battling rabbits every year over her green beans so I may need to make a chicken wire fence. I'm hoping to get the raised bed built this year so I can at least start composting the soil. If I can talk him into building it next weekend I may still get onions and beans planted.

We've also been talking about planting a fruit tree or two in the back yard since it is totally tree-less. Jim wants an apple tree, I want a pear tree. I really want a pomegranate tree but I don't think it would fare well here. I've read they can produce fruit if grown in a greenhouse but my greenhouse dreams are years away. And probably about as likely as Jim's hope of building a half court in the back yard. I told him "Over my dead body."