I started to write a long explanation about why I am
starting a blog now, but it started to discourage me from writing anything at
all. So, let’s just start with what the
blog will be about. It’s called Growin
Good Stuff because the name I first wanted was taken, and because I recently
have started growing good stuff, or started trying to at least. In our backyard we have a pretty huge garden…
…well, it IS huge and the hope is that it WILL BE a garden. It was mostly grass and weeds so I have spent
most of my time pulling those so far. So
that is where the impetus for the blog comes from, blogging about my experience
as a newbie gardener.
I also plan on talking about other growth as well; family
growth, spiritual growth, physical growth (well, hopefully not too much growth
in that area for me, but I did just start Crossfit, so maybe some more muscle),
job growth, and Greta’s growth. Can’t
leave out the baby! Hopefully she’s the
only weed growing around this house! :)
So, what’s been my gardening experience so far? Hard!
Mostly because most of my “garden” looked like this…
Some of it much thicker like this…
I’m a little disappointed I didn’t take a picture before I started any work, especially now that I’m blogging about it. I first tried pulling all of the grass and weeds by breaking up the dirt and then using a metal rake, but I kept just burying the grass weeds and had to get down on my hands and knees anyway. So, I cut out the middle part and just got down on my hands and knees with these tools…
The claw works well for breaking up the soil. I really like my mini pitch fork for pulling
weeds. It works nice to get under the
weed and pull it out by the root. Making
pretty good progress too. This is what’s done…
Bigger than most gardens! Of course this is what isn’t done yet…
I haven’t planted
anything in my garden yet, but I have planted a few seeds (peppers, various
squash, tomatoes, green beans… ) in my disposable greenhouses…
I’ll just wrap up with the only semi-exciting part of my gardening
so far… a battle royale…
…between a tail-less lizard and a potato bug! I turned over some soil and a potato bug came
crawling out. As I watched him scurry
along the ground a lizard comes flying down the wall and attacks it. They flipped around a few times, the lizard
went back to the wall, and I went running for the camera. When I got back I didn’t see the potato bug
anywhere and the lizard was up on the wall. Knowing the lizard didn’t eat the bug because
it was half his size and he didn’t look any bigger, I kicked around the dirt to
find the bug and when I did the battle was on again.
I only got a few shots because my presence and the click of the camera kept scaring the lizard back to the wall. Every time I walked away the lizard would scurry down the wall and look around for the bug. I never saw the potato bug again, but I did try to feed the lizard a worm that I found.
