ChrisBorders's Blog

Last trip to Lowe's...yeah...right!
Apr 17, 2009 | 2:08 PM PST
Tags: gardening , veggies , spring planting

Famous last words...I've made my last trip to Lowe's!  As good as those words sound, I know all too well that I'll be back there...again...sometim
e next week.  And why not?  I've got to make sure that there aren't any new plants I haven't seen or touched or lusted after!  I made a promise to myself that I'd have everything planted in the garden by Sunday...so I had to get the last of my veggies...I just had to!

I ran off to Lowe's and left my hubby and a friend of his from North Carolina working on the truck...they're doing a heart transplant...so keep your fingers crossed that it works because my hubby is jonesing for his truck...he has a new car but it's just not the same...or so he says. To me it's...car...truck...four wheels...all the same...still drinks gas!

As soon as I pulled into the parking lot at Lowe's, I knew I was in for a treat...only because I found an up-front parking spot...right in front of the Garden Center.  And low and behold...there were all the veggies you could wish for...all brand new...just delivered. I knew I was in heaven...you could almost hear an angelic choir singing "hal-lay-lu-yah".  I know I checked out each and every plant in the Garden Center at Lowe's...and wouldn't you know it, while I was there they were off-loading their Friday shipment of new plants from a local nursery!  Oh joy...new plants...pretty plants...calling my name and asking me to take them home. I stood firm...I only looked at them, all the while explaining to them that although they were really pretty...really...really pretty...and they would look absolutely lovely in my garden...I just couldn't bring them home...not this time...maybe later...once my hubby goes back out of town to work!  How sneaky is that...I'm an undercover plant purchaser!

I headed straight for the veggies and I found all the colors of the rainbow in bell peppers...yellow ones...orange ones...red ones...and the old standby...green ones.  So I thought...okay...I'll get one of each...the color will look really pretty in the garden of green!  I couldn't resist the poblano pepper plants...only because I know how good they're going to taste filled with ground beef, spices, and cheese!  And since I already have nine tomato plants, I couldn't say no to the Roma tomato that somehow found it's way into my shopping cart...I only work with even numbers..that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

On my garden spreadsheet, I have a mass of squash and zuchinni plants...well upon really checking out the available garden space...I've found that I can put in atleast double the number I originally planned on.  This means I'll have plenty for cooking up fresh...and canning...and giving away...and of course...pickling.  My sister-in-law Tish, gave me a jar of squash pickles and I've fallen in love with them...so much so that I wrestled the recipe from her so I can put them up myself...just another joy in my life!  Since I now have a large number of both the squash and zuchinni plants, if I plant them close enough, the shade from their leaves should keep the weeds down in that area...atleast that's what I'm hoping for.  I really hate weeding...

I found a nine flat of cucumber plants...they're vining so I'll have to run a trellis through them.  Not a problem, if I'm going to put in a trellis or two or three for my beans then while I'm at it, I'll run one for the cukes too.  Thank goodness I'm crafty and like to build stuff!  Like my watering station that I came up with.  I sunk an eight foot piece of 4" PVC pipe in the middle of my garden.  On top of it, I put a flange that fits nicely in the hole.  On the flange, I'm going to attach my water sprinkler...and attach my garden hose to it. This way, I should be able to water the entire garden area and it'll be tall enough to reach the corn in the back.  Fingers crossed that this will work out.

I put in my strawberry plants today before I headed off shopping.  I planted twenty of them...unfortunately I didn't read the package first and planted them all wrong.  So I had to dig them back up and plant them even with the ground.  I definitely had a "duh" moment!  I can't wait for them to start producing...I was given a great recipe for jam that I'm dying to make...I can almost taste it now...Mmmm!

So far it's all good with my herb/lettuce garden.  A couple of weeks ago, I planted nine head-type lettuces and they are all doing really well.  Along with those, I planted my loose-leaf lettuce and my mesclun.  If all goes as planned, I'm going to be up to my eyeballs in lettuce.  It's a good thing I love salads.  They dodged a bullet with my dog Badger...she loves to run.  Well she decided to take a run through the bed and all she did was leave giant footyprints in the soil...didn't touch not one plant. Her doggie angel was watching over her that time!