OK, So Maybe I'm a Wee Bit Obsessed

It's just a garden.  And, really just the beginnings of a garden.  Only a year removed from being an unkempt patch of weeds, rocks, and rock-hard clay soil at the rear of our property.  But, slowly and surely, we are turning the area we call the Way Back into our garden.

Last year, since we didn't move in until the first week in June, we didn't get much of a start on our garden.  Just a few tomato and pepper plants purchased at the Farmer's Market and plopped into two recently-tilled rows.  Then, came both the unpacking process and Fall:  we covered a large area adjacent to those first tilled rows with the flattened moving boxes and all the leaves collected from our yard (...and we have loads of leaves...:).

Voila!  The boxes and leaves composted right on site (with the exception of that nasty, sticky packing tape), softening the soil, and allowing more rows to be tilled and added to the garden space.  More tomatoes and peppers planted (some purchased at Home Depot during the BOGO event, some started from seed inside) as you can see in the photo above (left)...which will serve as the "before" photo once all of the lovely plants begin to grow.  Added enough rows to accommodate several summer squash and zucchini plants, lotsa lettuces, some melons, and several sweet potato slips.  Oh yes...and onions!   Plenty of onions.  And all of this surrounded by border rows of marigolds, sunflowers, and zinnias...from seeds we saved from last year's flower crop...a whole bag-full!  Grow, babies, grow!

Then, earlier this week, I got out my hand cultivator and re-tilled three short rows for the Early Sunglow sweet corn.  Right over by the strawberry patch (11 plants lived out of the 18 planted earlier this Spring).  Next to the flower "holding bed," where the flowers we moved from MO are in temporary residence until they bloom and let us know which ones they are. [This beautiful iris bloomed recently, and we discovered that it was the Yosemite Star (violet and wisteria)...one of those we purchased at the Iris Sale at the STL Botanical Garden in 2008.]

And, just before I completely ran out of energy, I hauled 6-7 wheelbarrows-ful of leaf-mold (remember, we have LOADS of leaves in the Fall...:) to the newly-planted tomatoes for mulch.  I can't wait to see how it all turns out. 

I love it!  So what if I need two days for my back to recover for every day spent working in the garden...I still love it!  Frustrations?  Who can have that many frustrations when you are pouring all that energy into getting things to grow...and returning the land to good use?

When I need a little rest and a refreshing beverage?  I plop down into my camp chair next to my log-table, in front of my potting bench just inside of the garden fence...and take photos of the blue birds who have moved into the Blue Bird House that BFF AW gave N/M/E for her recent birthday...as you can see in that photo over there on the left...all the while slugging down an ice-cold orange Gatorade.  Yum!  Ready to go again in 15-20 minutes.

BTW, did I tell you that one of the weeds that's growing well in the Way Back is poison ivy?  Yeah.  Leaves of Three...beware of Thee.  It's everywhere, it's everywhere!  And, both of us have the rashes to prove it.  Oh well...that's what they invented cortisone cream for, right?  And, Benedryl.  Don't forget the Benedryl.

Obsessed?  Possibly.  Passionate?  Most definitely.  Now, I have to quit blogging so I can go see what's changed in the garden today.