Gaining Ground

On our return from Utah, Brian and I had two enormously productive days in the garden. It finally is a garden! Every last herb, vegetable and fruit has been planted - except for the zucchinis and squashes, which prefer at least 70 degree soil before planting.

The bulk of the work was making ground. Simply filling our three kiddie pools and 15 other large containers took forever! In addition to the soil we brought from Laurie's garden via last year's container-tomato crop and the soil Brian picked up from give-aways in Martin Acres, we have purchased well over 30 bags of top soil, mushroom compost and potting soil. Let's just say we visited McGuckin (a regionally-based hardware store) about 7 times in three days. According to the garden center employees, there has been an explosion of interest in gardening this season. McGuckin is having a hard time keeping supplies stocked. Let's hope people are growing something edible!

We started by planting the fava beans, snow peas and shelling peas. Peas and beans grow well together. They're not the biggest fans of soggy, cold spring weather. But this is Colorado. In my three years in Colorado, "soggy" doesn't happen - until this week. Since the evening after our big planting, the Front Range has been inundated with wet storms. There was even a tornado watch in Denver - just 3o minutes away; how bizarre.

Even though my plants are ready for some drier, sunnier weather, I'm grateful for the rain. I've been mindful of the fact that this local, "self sufficiency" project is limited by our location in a semi-arid environment, dependent on energy-dependent water distribution. Unfortunately, Boulder's natural environment and climate is not conducive to a 100,000-plus human community - one of the many reasons we eat, drink and buy "off trucks."

Our trip to the desserts of Utah reinforced this water dilemma for us. For one thing, it was just so damn hot and dry! In the middle of Utah we came across a very small town called Orangeville (it hosted the closest grocery store to our bouldering destination of Joe's Valley). This tiny town, which finds itself between the desert and Utah's arid mountains, appeared to be primarily an agricultural town. Next to orange cliffs and barren plains were bright green, irrigated fields. In place of rains, these farmers water their crops with the rivers flowing out of the mountains above. Even so, how can it makes sense to settle a desert and produce food which is obviously transported elsewhere? What sort of water use does make sense? While I'm trying to figure it out, I'll gratefully accept the gift of rain.

After our time in the desert, Boulder looked green and lush upon arrival. Deciduous trees are blooming and well-tended columbines and irises are everywhere. Even the fields of Chautauqua, which form the base of the flat irons - the focal point of Boulder's mountainous boundary - are coming alive and turning green. Especially when you catch a glimpse of snow-capped mountains beyond these views to the west, it's absolutely beautiful.

The pea/beans containers have certainly been drenched like everything else - with water pooling on top - so we'll see if they successfully germinate. We're tempted to bring some containers under shelter, but simply moving these containers is risky; our first transplanting of greens seemed to suffer from the constant movement. Cracks split the dirt right through the middle of these containers, which must have disturbed the germinating seeds and young seedlings.

Besides our 8 inch high Purple Cherokee tomato (which is covered by a cookie sheet to give it a break from the rain), everything else looks great! The kiddie pools seem to be draining effectively. As I've explained in a previous post, we filled all containers with a thin layer of rocks before adding the soil. This should help drainage while reducing soil loss through otherwise open holes.

Now that the first batch of planting is complete (we'll continue several planting of greens throughout the season), we have an optimistic idea of what our harvest just might deliver...

In one kiddie pool (measuring 5 feet in diameter), we focused on broccoli. We fit 6 broccoli, three dill and one mint plant. The dill and mint will protect the broccoli from some pests. We transplanted the mint from Betsy's yard. Thanks, Betsy! Mint is very, very hardy and spreads easily. Yay for Mojitos!

In the other large pool we planted six tomato plants and four basil plants. Right after transplanting the sun was very intense. In order to reduce scorching and shock, we shaded the pools with sheets, as you can see. We might have let the plants enjoy the sun if we knew about the clouds and rain which would soon settle in.

In our two other large, deep containers we planted the beets and carrots.

So far, so good! Now for a little sun...