Our table gardens are built and planted! David is understandably proud of his accomplishment, and so am I.
One of the most difficult things about growing older is that we often do know how to do things. Whether we can actually accomplish them, well that’s another matter, entirely.
He and our daughter went to one of the newly opened big box stores to get the lumber—masks in place and hand sanitizer at the ready. He had a list of the wood he needed, and it didn’t take them long to hit the checkout.
From there they went to two other locations—Walmart to buy the soil, peat moss, and fertilizer and the garden area of one of the local grocery stores to get the plants and seed.
We’d had a discussion, the three of us, about the veggies we’d plant. But just because we had that discussion and more or less came to an agreement doesn’t necessarily have any bearing on the veggies they eventually bought.
I was pleased to see the tomato plants—four of them, hale and hardy and one with a flower on it. These, as discussed, he planted in the corners of one of the boxes. Not tucked in close, but within a couple of inches. That way he can staple a stake at the outside, to help support them. Now, in the center of this box was to be a squash plant, two at the most.
During the discussion, we had considered which kind of squash to purchase. I told him whatever kind he wanted. Zucchini, he suggested. I’d said that wouldn’t make sense since I am the only one of the three of us who likes that veggie.
Ah, well…if they do well, I can always make zucchini bread. My husband and daughter like that well enough.
We’d discussed getting both green bell peppers and cucumbers. I reminded them we never seemed to have much luck with the peppers, mainly because of a lack of watering. I did ask him to see if they had any swiss chard, because lately our local grocery store doesn’t get it in anymore. The reason we were given for that change of policy was because, so few people buy it. The store did have collard greens, and maybe there’s a recipe somewhere that will make them taste good, but at this point I’m not sure if I want to bother a second time.
I really do love Swiss chard.
Garden number two has, in order from front to back (rows planted in widthwise), white onions, Swiss chard, green bell peppers, and cucumbers.
There is about ten feet of distance between the zucchini and the cucumbers, and I am hoping it’s enough. Cross pollination is a real thing, my friends. Ask me some day about the time we planted the cucumbers close to the watermelon in our big old country veggie garden. Here’s the bottom line of that adventure. The cucumbers were plump and good; the watermelon tasted like cucumbers, sort of.
The cucumbers in the back of that second garden, that was good, I said to my husband. A good distance from the other squash. He pointed to the black metal piece of frame, late of our last gazebo, that he has tacked to the high, wooden fence. He nodded and said, “I put them there so that they could grow up the trellis.”
Okay. I nodded. I said, “it’ll work, as long as the cucumbers don’t get too big and heavy.” Roses they are not. String beans, they are not. But we’ll see.
The third garden has the seeds: beans—green, yellow, and new kind that grows to be purple but turns a dark green when cooked. He also has planted carrots, and beets.
And while we have no idea how this will pan out, he’s already looking forward to next year. He plans to add one more table garden, the lap pool of table gardens, if you will. It will be longer and about a third of the width of what he has now, as well as twice the depth.
He reasons it will make a good potato garden. If it’s deep enough, and with the drainage these boxes have, I can’t see any reason why not.
I know my husband well. He’s already planning a feast of real baby potatoes.
Love,
Morgan
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