I was obviously upset when I wrote "Dreams Dashed." Only because one of the things I've been most excited about is the strawberries. I had planned on using PVC pipes to make homemade strawberry towers (that would have been cheaper) but I was so worried about risking the plants themselves. So I bought the Topsy Turvy. The shipping was the same price as one unit but I figured it would be worth it. I'd definitely get a good crop. When I found out that the Topsy Turvy would require a minimum of 12 plants I was bummed. Mostly because I had set a very strict budget. I was also bummed because it would look silly if I didn't fill every hole in the planter. Mike thinks that ordering the plants online is "too good to be true" but I have read a lot about gardening in the past few months and to be honest it seems like most skilled gardeners order their plants online or from catalogs.
Prices:
Home Depot/Retail: $5/plant
Total: $60.00 for 12
Online/Catalog: $5.70/bundle or 10
Total: $11.40 for 20
I'm going with the online plants and it'll be fine. I'm OK now. Hopefully, Mike won't be right.
Today...
I got up and checked the weather because it looked a little cloudy out. Then I stuck on my boots and headed out to the garden. I quickly checked my bed and spinach container. The container was still moist but I added a little more water. It seemed to need just a touch. DONE. Then I looked into the bed and noticed that there were little red buds all over it.
I worried that adding the soil to the bed too early would lead to some "self pollination." That the wind would carry seeds and other little plants into the soil that would then take root and begin to grow, ruining the ALFD plants I have planned. So I began picking out the little red "buds" by hand. I couldn't help but thinking that one of the neighbors had thrown the buds in the air and let them fly to sabotage my garden. Mostly, I thought of our direct next door neighbor to the right of the house. I only thought this because we don't spend that much time in the side yard or what now is Patch Market and maybe he didn't like some of his privacy invaded. Anyway, it was a fleeting thought. I really don't believe that was done. It's March and you know what they say "March comes in like a lion and leaves like a lamb" referring to the wind. So the wind carried these buds in and I was left picking them out. I continued to pick as many buds out as I saw. I went square by square and dumped them in the ivy.
When I was done with that I thought about looking for an old sheet to cover the fresh soil until I plant my ALFD plants but I thought that may be over doing it. So, I went looking for a piece of old wood to make a sign. I looked all over the yard, in the basement, and finally in my boyfriends Dad's tool room. I struck gold. I found a fallen out bottom of an old kitchen draw. It was perfect! Initially, I'd asked Mike (the boyfriend) to paint the sign for me because he's really good at that type of thing but once I had the wood in hand I decided I wanted to be the one to do it. I had a clear and direct vision. So I grabbed a white and brown can of paint, paper towels, and newspaper and headed back out. Once I was at the top of the driveway I laid out the newspaper and sprayed some white paint onto it. I wanted the sign to have the look and feel of reclaimed wood that hadn't been stripped. I dipped a paper towel in the white paint and started running it across the piece of wood to give it that leftover paint look. Then I did the same with the brown to outline the white. Now I needed to paint the words "Patch Market" on the sign. I went down into the far back room and found an acrylic paint set, I found it earlier when looking for the wood but didn't grab it because I didn't plan on using it. It happened to contain the fancy paint brushes I had been missing. So double score! I took the kit outside, opened it and grabbed for the black. The cap wouldn't budge. I tried with rubber gloves, paper towel, and anything else I thought would give me some grip. Nothing worked. I was thinking of cutting the bottom off but couldn't bring myself to do so... as I was reaching for another color I noticed that some black paint had leaked out of the tube when I was squeezing it. The tube had a hole. I squeezed a little more out and started painting the words on. At first, I was really disappointed. It was looking bad, especially the "P" so I lifted the sign and started painting with it closer to my body. That helped so much! It was really starting to turn into something nice-ish. I finished the words and decided to add a couple of veggies for decoration. I started with a large radish.
When the radish turned out fairly well I got the green paint out and added some stems. Since the brush I was using was already green I painted in the carrot greens. I had to wash the brush under the hose each time I changed colors. I ended up getting really cold and wet. The hose is actually, currently, detached from the tap so the water was going everywhere. I didn't want to use all of my fancy new paint brushes (that I'd lost and found) on the sign so I chanced getting wet each time. I went back and looked into the kit for orange paint to finish the carrot. None. I sat there thinking, What makes orange? I ended up mixing burnt sienna and crimson red. It wasn't the exact color I wanted but it worked well enough. I painted the carrot in and added some crimson lines for depth. I took a look at what I had completed and felt like it needed a little something on the left side (the radish and carrot were on the right) so I washed my brush again and added a baby crimson radish to the left and then washed it again and added some greens. I was finally done after about 2 hours. Now, I needed to hang it. It had taken me so long to paint, almost all of it was dry by the time I finished the baby radish. Now because of the time I am sure that you're thinking the sign is a work of art. It's not. I just took a lot of time finding all of the things I needed. In part, all of the other tasks I've completed in the garden have taken me longer because I don't bring everything out that I'll need that day. Still hadn't at that point...
I went back inside and got the trusty twine, a pair of scissors, 2 long nails, and a small hammer. I headed over to Patch and hammered the nails into the sign, tied the twine to the nail, strung the string through one opening in the gate and tied the other end to the other nail. As I looked on at the sign I'd I became really excited I kept thinking all I need is the Topsy Turvy and I'm done done done. I took a couple pictures and headed inside to wash up and have some lunch. Mike headed out to pick up lunch but came right back down with the Topsy Turvy. It was here! Once he left I opened the box and put it all together. Then I went outside to hang it on my shepherd hook. My garden was complete (minus the plants). It was really a great feeling to see all the building truly done. I had transformed this little piece of land into what I hope will become a thriving sunny garden of beautiful berries and veggies.
That feeling didn't last long...
Once I had taken my pictures with the TT in place I went back inside because it was getting cold. I boxed the TT back up and started reading the pamphlets that came with it. The "10 tips to growing the best strawberries" or something like that, as I read on I got more and more discouraged. One of the 10 tips said that buying regular potting soil wouldn't be a bargain. It would kill my berries. Just another thing I had to buy or so I thought (hence the Dreams Dashed blog entry). After reading everything and getting discouraged by 1 or 2 more of the "tips" I grabbed my iPhone and googled, "MG soil for strawberry growth." I found a forum where several beginners and pro's were discussing Miracle Gro garden soil. Most people said that MG was fine. They said that compost was obviously best but that they had pretty good results with the MG garden soil. That lifted my spirits a bit. I wouldn't have to buy a tiny bag for $10. I spent awhile reading the blog and decided that as soon as this spring is done and all my plants are just getting going I'm going to build a compost bin. Compost is so good for your plants and its virtually free. I also found out that I should have bought compost from another county. I'd looked into that before starting but never found anything for Arlington County. I didn't think to look in neighboring counties. Others do sell compost by the yard and deliver it. If I decide composting isn't my thing I'll definitely be using them next year!
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