For the last 3 years, Roy and I have said we wouldn’t put in a “real” garden due to our varying circumstances, but in the end, we just can’t help ourselves!

In 2012, we were building the cabin with every moment of every day, almost literally, but we ended up with “just one more tomato…potato…bean…squash…cucumber”.

In 2013, Roy started preaching 3 hours away, and was gone half the week, as is still the case…and I went to work full time. That means that when he is home, he has to work doubly hard in half the time, and I am only home evenings and (alone) weekends.

But the dirt calls! We have started what looks like a zillion tomatoes (it’s actually a much lower number), cucumbers, squash, hot peppers, and sweet peppers, so far.

We started the seed in the camper, keeping them moist and warm.

We ran a heater on a thermostat. Once they were up, we moved them to the NEW greenhouse so they can get plenty of sun. It is our first store-bought AND our first walk-in greenhouse! We got it at Tractor Supply for $79 and it was well worth it. The plastic is thick and reinforced, with a vent window, sturdy zippers, and plenty of shelves.

We planted some new seeds, but also planted some that we’d had in the freezer since…2004. Would you believe they came up? I wrote down in our garden book (a spiral bound with notebook paper) the dates on each type so we can keep up with how each does. That will give us an idea in the future for how long seed will keep. I have to confess, that I love to experiment with things like that.We use what we have for containers to start the seed, with the exception that we buy little bathroom Dixie cups for the window trays. These trays are made to take the little peat pellets, but unless we find a good deal on them, we don’t buy them.

We make the potting soil from several things. This year we used garden dirt, peat moss, the contents from an old worm box, and some old premixed potting soil from a salvage store. This is mixed in a big bucket and dished up into the containers.

We are watering them with a little pump sprayer that Roy found at the dump last year. We can adjust it to spray like rain, and it works really well for tender new plants.We hope to start some herbs and novelties this week (like jelly melons, maybe) and perhaps get a few new grapes in the ground that a friend grew for us.