Let me preface by saying that I have very little experience with gardening, unless you count the few years using my three Aerogardens.  Last year I branched out and bought some herbs, potted them, and managed not to kill them.  The rosemary and oregano even managed to survive the winter.

This year I decided I wanted to try growing some vegetables.  We have a 1.25-acre lot, so there’s plenty of room for a garden.  The former owner of the house even fenced off a large area where he did his gardening.  He was retired, and was therefore able to spend the time necessary to tend such a large garden.  It has since become overrun with raspberry bushes and weeds.  Al and I have been talking for a couple years now about ripping out the existing weed garden, cutting it in half so is more manageable for the employed.  This is the year we’ll finally do that.

I ran out a few weeks ago to pick up some books on gardening.  It turns out that planting a vegetable garden requires a lot of planning!  I was hoping we could just rip up the old one, throw down some seeds, maybe add fertilizer, and water it.  It takes more time than that to kill the weeds, test and prepare the soil, etc., etc.  So we’ll get some of the prep work done this year, but the planting will have to wait till next spring.

Meanwhile I’m getting my feet wet by doing some container gardening.  I bought a seed starter kit several weeks ago and planted peppers, tomatoes, green beans and strawberries.  Then I ran out looking for the appropriate containers.  Everywhere I look, it seems, people have these half-barrel things in their yard with plants growing out of them.  I love those!  I looked everywhere, but couldn’t find them.  It would have helped if I knew what they were called.

I finally found a place where the salesperson knew what I was talking about: whiskey barrels.  I still thought this was just a term.  I didn’t realize they were actual whisky barrels which have been cut in half. I grabbed a couple, loaded them in my SUV, and drove home with the smell of whiskey filling my vehicle.  Thank goodness I didn’t get pulled over!  Do whiskey barrels count as open containers?  When I got them home, I was amused to discover where the barrels came from:

So hopefully my veggies don’t end up tasting like JD.  Okay, okay, I know that’s unlikely.  No one gets a buzz from eating salad!  (Do they?)

We were fortunate to have some fantastic weather this past weekend.  It managed to get up to 94ºF on Saturday – not bad for April in New England.  I was excited to get outside and transplant my little seedlings.  I had no idea playing in the dirt could be so much fun!

Well, the weather is still beautiful, but it’s Monday.  So I’ll be sitting in my cubicle all day anxious to get home and play in the dirt some more.  Hopefully my little sprouts grow big and beautiful and produce some tasty treats one day!