Monday, April 12, 2010

Trying Real Hard To Adjust

“So he grows a little garden in the back yard by the fence
He's consuming what he's growing nowadays in self defense
He get's out there in the twilight zone
Sometimes when it just don't make no sense.”

The Bellamy Brothers had quite a few lyrics I do appreciate and can relate to, being a hard headed Southern Boy “You Aint Just Whistling Dixie” is one of my favorites but that will be another post one of these fine days.

You just have to love fresh vegetables and working in the garden, heck I just love getting out into the middle of nature and enjoying what the Good Lord has to offer for us, digging in the dirt with your hands and enjoying the blessings of watching what you planted, reaping what you sow as they say, I just love to walk outside sometimes to stand and enjoy the view, Cindy says I am a person who is outstanding in my field and that is where she finds me sometimes when I turn up missing, out back standing in the field, but that’s OK I am having a good time.

The last year we lived in New Mexico I was feeling up to attempting growing a garden, I dug up a small area next to the house and began the process of preparing the soil, my tiller was a shovel and I wore myself out turning that dirt over, I went down and bought a few bags of steer manure and worked it deep into the soil, not to over do it I bought six tomato plants, three crookneck squash plants, and a bag each of carrot and radish seeds, I planted the squash in a small triangle at the front and the tomato plants two each side by side and three deep OK this didn’t leave me much room so I made small rows between the tomatoes and planted the carrots and radishes, OK now the room I didn’t have at the back was filled with sunflowers and four-o-clocks, OK my planting was done and it looked nice, little did I realize that it was going to be a good year.

You already know where I am going here it wasn’t long before I couldn’t see the side of the house, the tomatoes were six feet tall and the squash had intertwined themselves together and had begun to take over the driveway while at the same time had crept into the neighbors yard, heck I couldn’t even find the carrots and radishes but the sunflowers were sure pretty, I told Cindy I would be out in the garden and off I went to prune some of the limbs from the tomato plants that were doing us no good other than making it appear I had a tomato hedge growing down the side of the house, suppertime rolls around and here she comes to call me in, I am actually standing between two plants tying up a limb when she steps around the house and says “Jimmy supper is ready” I reply OK and she looks and off to Virginia’s (our neighbor) she goes, I figure she would be back soon so I continued working it wasn’t long before I hear her calling my name as she is returning from Virginias, I am in trouble now because she thought I had answered from Virginia’s house and she had never seen me standing there in the jungle, I laughed and said that I had been there the whole time. A valuable lesson was learned here, don’t ever put that many plants into a space 3 foot by 20 foot and not expect them to take over, six tomato plants in a good year will produce more than you can eat, and so will three squash plants, we actually had neighbors refusing any more veggies because they had no more room to store them.

After moving to California a little over a year ago our gardening was limited to a couple squash plants and three tomato plants in pots last year, we have now gotten brave and tilled up an area out back by the fence that measures about twenty five by twenty five foot, it is now Cindy’s Parents, she and I so there are four people depending on our gardening skills and from the lessons learned earlier we have a package of corn seeds, about ten tomato plants, and the same number of assorted squash and zucchini plants, Cindy wanted some bell peppers so red, yellow and green were purchased for my wife and I just had to throw in one each of cayenne, chili, and jalapeno peppers.

You don’t think I am overdoing it do you?

"He's an old hippie...his new life is just a bust
He ain't trying to change nobody
He's just trying real hard to adjust."

24 comments:

  1. I know I told you of my pumpkin story but your vegetable garden in New Mexico seems like 100 times more wild!!! I always have admired people who grow their own food. Every time I have tried to grow fruits and veggies the darn squirrels eat them. I am convinced squirrels are just rats with fancy tails!!! Your garden sounds amazing. I especially like the jalapenos..it must be because I am married to a Mexican!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey Susie,

    I hope the squirrels keep to the pinecones and leave the garden alone here Ha Ha they do make a mess though, I hope everything grows good here I have a little more room to escape depending on how I put the plants in :^)

    I do like the jalapenos too.

    ReplyDelete
  3. You just brought back a funny memory for me! My Dad was an avid gardener. When I was little, we used to knead the manure in barefooted. *shutter

    One year, he decided to plant something he'd never tried before... watermelons. Poor man put out 200 plants! Even with the deer enjoying them, we still had watermelons coming out our ears.

    ReplyDelete
  4. that was a great story! tomatoes right off the vine...not much better than that!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I miss the fresh vegetables, esp. the homegrown tomatoes, of a garden, but not the work! Nothing like a homegrown tomato sandwich!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I wish I loved vegetables more. Well, broccoli carrots and corn is as far as it goes. Reading stuff like this makes me want to like tomatoes

    ReplyDelete
  7. I grow tomatos and peppers in pots on the back deck every summer. I did a grape tomato one last year and never got to harvest them because everytime the kids walked by they'd pick them and pop them in their mouths! I did jalapenos and cayennes alos. Yummy! There's nothing like your own homegrown produce. Although, the farmers markets come close.

    Great post Jimmy!
    ♥Spot

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ms A,

    Even though kneading the soil as you did was not desirable it did get you in touch with the earth and that actually is a good feeling, I use my hands but the feet would probably do a much better job :^)

    200 Watermelon plants I can just imagine that would be a patch and a half.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hey Pat,

    Those are the best tomatoes you can get, I actually had them so big that one slice made a sandwich and the fried green tomatoes if you have never tried are out of this world in my opinion.

    ReplyDelete
  10. You said it SC,

    As I mentioned to Pat a good old fresh tomato sandwich is about the best you can come by.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hey Ian,

    We are going to grow some sweet corn and artichoke too, you never know give the fried green tomatoes a try you just may like them.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Thank You Spot,

    We had ours in pots last year but decided to get brave and go all out this time around, Cindy got three Cherry Tomato plants and I see those being eaten as they ripen also Ha Ha

    Like you said the Farmers Market is good but out of your own garden is the best.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Oh, Jimmy...I SO envy your gardening skills, man. Because there is nothing, and I mean nothing, like fresh grown produce.

    While living in Florida, a southern couple that I was close friends with, would sometimes have me over for a typical southern-style veggie dinner. OMG, it was heaven! We also had fresh hot cornbread to go with it.

    My dad (being Italian) grew his own tomatos every summer. For dinner, he would slice a couple of them and then drizzle them with olive oil, and then add fresh basil leaves.

    Bellissima!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Thank You Ron,

    I do love gardening we got out and got a lot of the tomatoes, squash, and peppers planted today, now we have to water and wait for the good stuff.

    Can't beat a good home cooked dinner especially when you have hot cornbread to go along with it.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Oh my God, we're both crazy! I have, um, 8 tomato plants at last count... in addition to everything else I have out there.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hey Kristy,

    Glad to have you stop by, I am hoping with the ten+ we have there are at least a few tomato sandwiches for me :^)

    ReplyDelete
  17. Trisha,

    So good to see you my friend, hope all is well on your end of this world.

    ReplyDelete
  18. You are NOT overdoing it. In fact, it sounds like you are doing a great job. My husband also does the gardening though I do the flowers. He uses an old book I have called "Square Foot Gardening." I've seen this refered to recently in a magazine or somewhere. All I can say about it,...he's learned to "make" the best soil ever! I use it for my flowers too. Here's hoping for a fruitful garden!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Nothin' like a home grown garden, I can tell you that much. Fresh vegetables from your garden taste soooooo much better than store bought it's amazing, especially tomatoes.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Hey MC,

    Thank You so much, I am already looking forward to picking Ha Ha

    ReplyDelete
  21. Desertson,

    Thanks for joining us here my Friend, I agree with you that you can't go wrong with the fresh vegetables, they are too easy to eat right out in the garden.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I have to admit, I have never tried to plant vegtables. I do good to keep the store bought flowers alive and I am barely doing that. Maybe one of these days I will try it.

    Too funny, you getting lost in the tomato bushes!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Hey Heather,

    If nothing else try a tomato plant in a pot you will be suprised at how well it will do, and if you have several be careful of getting lost OK :^)

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for stopping by, jump in and tell me what you think, or just say Hi, I really appreciate your comments.