Garden Progress

I've been working on the garden quite a bit. Here's what I have planted so far:

Peas: 66 feet (two 33-foot double rows)
Broccoli: 26 feet (two 13-foot rows)
Spinach: 22 feet (12 loose leaf plants, the rest loose leaf and curly seeds)
Lettuce: 22 feet (12 Romaine plants, the rest assorted seeds/
Radishes: 21 feet (three 7-foot rows)
Carrots: 35 feet (five 7-foot rows)
Wax beans: 4 plants
Pole Beans: 4 plants
Tomatoes: 1 Unknown, 1 Cherry, 1 Lemon Boy
Peppers: 2 bell, 1 sweet yellow, 1 hot yellow

Yet to be planted: Beets, Cucumbers, Acorn Squash, Bush beans, Watermelon, Cantaloupe, blueberry bush, and some flowers. I should plant at least one pumpkin plant, too.

I've been able to get in at least a little time after work every day this week. Sunday I had about five hours in the garden. Tomorrow night I work until 7:00, so that's a lost day. If it is nice Friday, I can probably get the beets, cucumbers and acorn squash planted. By then, I will need to clear more brush, stumps and vines to create more garden space. I also have to rebuild the arbor for the grapes.

As I am doing all this work, I am cringing a bit at the fact that I know this will not be a great year in the garden. Having just started reclaiming it, I will have a constant battle with weeds. And the late start I got with some of the crops will hurt the yield. I expect the radishes, beets, and carrots to be a little deformed, as the soil still contains debris (there wasn't time to sift the soil for the root crops). I won't use chemical fertilizers in the garden, and I didn't get any compost or manure mixed into the soil, so I am not sure how nutritious the soil is right now -- it does have a nice dark color, that's usually a good sign.

The gardening has been good for me. I am not the kind of person that relaxes well, and I have no patience for sitting meditation, so gardening fills that void pretty well for me. I enjoy the quiet, the smell of the dirt, the occasional bird sighting, and the chance to let my mind be free from the barrage of input that modern life insists upon. No radio, no TV, no phone, no e-mail. If I believed in a heaven, it would have to be a garden. It would be one without stumps, roots and vines, though.