Constitution Club

My house is located at the very end of a cul de sac and has an unusually large back yard. The house is of modest size but apparently the county needed to get rid of some extra land and gave it to both myself and the neighbor behind me (theirs is gigantic). My home came with a pre-built gardening space measuring approximately 14′ by 40′. Now my grandfather had been an amazing gardener so I’ve given it the old trial and error effort and learned a lot in the process. I am preparing to have my third garden this year and am waiting for the weather here in Northern Colorado to settle down before I start planting (it was 80 degrees yesterday and snowed for several hours today, go figure).

My most successful ‘Farmer Dave’ moment so far has been my successful addition of a productive and expanding strawberry patch. I had initially purchased fifty plants for $5.00 from a farmer down the road who was uprooting his large patch and I later supplemented this with another dozen or so plants from a nursery. Last spring we had our first good crop of strawberries and in the fall I expanded the strawberry patch even further. Yum, yum, good.

This year I will be planting the following crops:

Carrots, three types of pumpkins, at least six types of gourds, cucumbers, peas, beans, radishes, zucchini, green onions, and several varieties of tomatoes. The wife would like some rhubarb as well so I’ll have to see what I can do.

I discovered that I can’t raise corn to save my life so that’s not a consideration this year.  It’s great to work outside and gardening is a great excuse to get away from both the TV and the computer for a bit. I also carved out a decent sized rock garden last fall and this spring and have an interesting rock/flower garden planned. I won a 1000 count ‘poppy seed’ auction tonight on ebay that will provide me with five varieties of poppy flowers in a short amount of time that should add some nice color and diversity to an area that what was little more than barren, woodchip filled ground alongside the house when I bought the place. We have planted two apple trees and are considering adding a peach and plum tree as well. They take a few years to mature but we aren’t planning on going anywhere soon. I am planting some excess this year, I have a neighbor a few doors down who has some secret knowledge of a wild plum thicket who likes to engage in a bit of barter from time to time. Supposedly it’s on private land and he has special permission to gather them blah, blah, blah, but they are good and a nice addition to the summer bonanza. I would like to be able to shower him with some good homegrown veggies to keep the plums rolling in. I also enjoy sharing nature’s bounty with both friends and family as much as I can and doing my part to prevent the plague of scurvy from rearing it’s ugly head.

All in all, I find gardening to be a surprisingly enjoyable and refreshing hobby that is also a great learning experience for my various offspring that roam around the backyard and garden while I’m communing with nature. Plus, have you seen the price of tomatoes or cucumbers lately? I’d rather grow my own than pay those prices. Now if I could only drill my own oil and refine my own gasoline, then I’d be getting somewhere.