Hump Day

Yesterday was a busy one. I woke at the crack of 9AM to get some tomato and onion seeds that had their little umbilical cords sticking out of their body, into the ground. By this I mean I had germinated these seeds in water and their roots had breached the shell. The previous night, I had been deliberating to myself, about the location of where best to place these seeds. I realize that planning a garden is harder than it seems. There are many considerations such as: sun/light/water needs, companion plants, crop rotation, plant height, time to maturity, insects, diseases, etc. All these things must be factored into the placement of the plant, in relation to the others. Fortunately, I live in Hawaii, where the temperature issue is almost non-existent.

I also realized how much faith you must have to start a garden. I have been waiting for the peas to pop out of the ground for the past couple of days. I put them in on Feb. 28, 5 days ago, and still no signs of them. We do the best we can to provide for the needs of plants, but much of the process is really up to nature. I just hope they are shy.

I used the cool afternoon to do some harder work in the back. I haven't found a good spot for the blueberry plant yet. I had dug a small hole on the west edge of the yard, thinking that this would be a good place. I then proceeded to heavily prune the tree branches that cast a large shadow in that spot.

Later, I thought to myself that this was an okay place, but I felt that it should go elsewhere. In Gaia's Garden, Toby says this stage in the development of your "food forest" is critical. Just as before you build a building, you have the blueprint, so should you have a map of what goes where, and a reason why. I have forgone this step, because I don't fully know all the plants that will eventually be in the yard. Instead, we are doing this piecemeal style. I'm taking it slow so as ideas develop, they can be worked into the ongoing process.

Today, I went on a short hike in the gulch behind and below my house. It was a nice stroll through somewhat overgrown milkweed and grasslike plants. I walked on hoof-trodden paths, avoiding the occasional cowpie and goat pellet turds. The weather was perfect for such an activity: sunny, but not hot, and a light breeze.

Wettin' My Feet

1. Snap Peas, 2. Marigold, 3. Tomato, 4. Onion

I put the Marigold and snap pea seeds into water on Feb. 25. I put the Yellow pear cherry tomato and Rossa di Milano Onion seeds into water on the 26th. I am not sure where I got this tactic of putting seeds into water until the roots come out from, and I'm not sure if it's actually good, but it works so I'm sticking with it. According to some texts, I think you're actually supposed to put them in wet paper napkins. Not too much of a difference. I still must prepare the ground. By this, I mean cover it with compost and water it.
I put the seeds into small yogurt containers to germinate. Please bear with my backyard assemblage of science tools.
I'm trying to follow my bible (Gaia's Garden) and do things the "natural" way. The "work with nature" method of gardening, which is to till as little as possible and add organic materials onto the soil. Compost follows, and the seeds go into this compost. This philosophy works well for me as I also like to keep it simple and easy, but this is not the reason I do it this way.