This past week has set two of my summer musts in motion. First, I got a new scooter! Well, not new exactly , but new to me. It's a 2001 50cc Yamaha Vino, which fits my personality to
a tee- vintage at heart, classy, fun, and a little beat-up. After a little drama, tale of the missing key,and a week of cold weather, I was finally able to ride it into work on Friday! There is nothing better than riding with the wind in your face, not having to take the bus, and filling up your gas tank for $2. Unfortunately, the weather turned cold and I haven't gotten to ride it since. But in what little time I did spend on my scooter I have realized one thing -"I feel the need, the need for speed!" While my little 50cc scooter has enough power to keep me at the speed limits around Ann Arbor, I see something with a little more power in my future.
Also this week, I began work on my very first Victory Garden. At the suggestion of my Mom, who always knows best =p, I purchased The New Victory Garden by Bob Thomson. For anyone looking to start a vegetable garden this book is a must have! The chapters are broken down into months, with a to-do list on the first page of each chapter. I don't know about you, but with all of the information available, starting a project like this can seem daunting. With this book it is SO simple, you only have to focus on one month at a time. The only adjustment I had to make was regarding the last frost date, which is the focus point of his entire planting time-line. Luckily, the difference in his frost date and my own was almost exactly a month, so I just had to shift the chapters by a month.
Once the idea of starting my own Victory Garden came to mind I started trolling garden stores, Wal-Mart, and Meijer for seeds. I think I may have gone a little bit overboard; I may have more than my little 20x20 plot can hold. After reading the back of each seed packet my head hurt with all the different instructions for the various seeds. After taking a deep breath and consulting my version of the Bible, i.e. The New Victory Garden, I was able to calmly sort my seeds into months according the the book, rather than chuck them across the room. Since I only got the book a few weeks ago, I was a little behind the "ideal"planting schedule, but I guess it's better late than never. This weekend I planted seeds for leeks, green and yellow onions, celery, and tomatoes.
For those of you who are new to vegetable gardening, here is what I did; keep your fingers crossed that it works! 1) Moisten germinating soil in its bag. I wasn't able to find the soil recommended in the book, but the lady at the garden store sold me on some cactus potting soil she swore would do the job. This is all one big experiment anyway, so why not? 2)Fill 4'' pots with soil, then compact down to about an inch from the top. I wasn't able to find cheap plastic pots, so I used peet pots instead. If you want to get super cheap, I hear cleaned milk cartons, with holes poked in the bottom work well. 3) Tap seeds from packet into the pots, ~2x the amount you eventually want to plant. 3)Cover seeds with soil and lightly firm 4)Bottom water with warm water. The idea behind this is that the bottom watering won't disturb the seeds. Maybe it was the peet pots or maybe I was just being impatient, but this seemed to take FOREVER! After several hours of letting the pots sit in the water I still didn't see moisture on the surface, so with my fingers I gently added water to the top of the pots 5)I then put the pots on a heating mat and let them do there thing. They don't look like much now, but hopefully I should have seedlings in a week or so, and photos for you soon after!
