Imbalance

I have noticed while gardening that there seems to be a great imbalance between what I perceive as usefulness of the crop, and ease of growth.  I don't need or have any use for one of those damn weeds out there, or any of the hearty, thick, hard to remove stems of grass that are popping up everywhere.  I would be jumping for joy and cartwheeling around the neighborhood if the bunching onions and the pathetic pepper starts would sprout up in half a second like those weeds and all that grass.  Why is it that our food sources are hard to grow and the weeds that are not edible are taking over the land?  It makes me wonder if we are being too picky about our food.  Maybe some of this stuff is edible, and I am just making a bunch of work for myself planting all this gourmet stuff like lettuce and peas.  I think this gardening is making me lose my mind.  I need to maintain my sanity to get this garden done.

We got up early today and went to the "city" ....population next to nothing....to look for some seed potatoes, (I am way too late) and some garlic and white onions to plant.  I did find some potatoes, which I have cut up and am drying for 24 hours before I plant them.  I am hoping it's not too late to plant them.  You see, that's the problem with gardening instructions.  They say things like:  "plant when the soil is warm", or "plant when the last frost has occurred".  How the heck do I know when the last frost will be?  I have to wait until August in this area if I want to be sure it won't frost again.   I also would really like to know what "warm soil" is.  My definition of warm is 75 degrees.  I am just beginning to dry out and get warm when the temp hits 75.  So I may have missed the time to plant the potatoes because I don't know what warm is.  But I will know for next year.

So today, I planted 2 rows of head lettuce seeds.  They are the tiniest little things I have seen.  I couldn't see them after they hit the ground.  I hoed 3 inch deep trenches about 10 ft long and then sprinkled the seeds down in the trench.  At least I think I did.  I couldn't see them.  I guess in a week or two I will know. 

I also planted a hill of summer squash and a hill of pumpkins.  I am not sure what the hill is for, but all the instructions say the same thing.  The directions say to put 4 or 5 seeds per 4 ft diameter hill.  I cheated and added a few extra...just in case.  I may regret that decision, but I am guessing I can always thin them.  I read that in all the books, about thinning.  So I am leaving my options open.  I also made the hills 4 ft. apart.  I did it just in time because as soon as I got everything planted it started to rain.  Yay for me!  Free water!!!!  I was very happy about that.  But here in the northwest it is pretty much like that most of the time.  Everything outside gets watered with regularity.

I mentioned yesterday or the day before that none of the pepper starts came up.  Well, I didn't open the greenhouse door or vents for 2 days, and it got to the 90's in there.  I went out there this afternoon to look at the plants we bought, and I'll be darned if 4 or 5 of the peat pots didn't have little green sprouts popping up out of them.  Call me crazy, but I think it hasn't been hot enough in there for them.  I may end up with LOTS of pepper plants.  I will run out of room if they all start coming up.  I may have to just start training the neighbors and take them some starts.  I want them to be used to getting little presents from me by the time I start to bring the squash around because it is taking over the garden.

I also made the decision to try to grow some popcorn.  I know this is totally nuts, but it will be fun to try.  So tomorrow I am going to soak the popcorn kernels and plant them on Monday.  I have absolutely no idea how this is going to work, because of the climate, but we will see.  The directions say that popcorn needs to be pollinated, and the wind does that.  So I am supposed to plant them in short rows and close together.  The suggestion is four short rows, and a foot apart.  So that is my next project. 

Now that I have all this stuff in the ground, I have to do some research about fertilizing, thinning, maintenance, and all kinds of other information.

You know, I was thinking, there may a possibility that at the end of all this, after all my research, and care and correctness and everything else that I am trying to do right, I may find out that this stuff will grow better if I just toss the seeds in the air and let it go.  I think sometimes we can fuss too much, and I may be approaching that point.  But I am going to keep on fussing and working, and after this growing season is over, I will look back and laugh at myself, and keep doing the same old thing.

Once again, open to suggestions, and until tomorrow...

Karen