Challenge: You have $5 in the World, What do you do?

Let's see...I have $5 to my name. I could go out for a beer, but I'd just want more. I could buy A grocery. I could save it (aahahah, right). I know, I'll make a sound investment in my future by buying seed potatoes! The 7 lbs bag was exactly $4.99 ($5.34 with tax so I had to scrounge up some change) but now I have a full-days worth of activity and hope for the future, all for $5. I cut the taters so that there is at least one good eye on each section, stuck them in a basket with damp newspaper (to prevent dehydration), and stored them in my closet till the wounds heal. Then, out to garden!

Clean Out Your Fridge!

Yep, its still raining, all my buckets are full, most of my seeds are planted...what to do? Clean, alright, fine, I'll clean. EUREKA! I found old garlic from so long ago that I can't remember. "What a waste", I thought to myself. But then, what do I see but a little green sprout from one of the cloves. WHA HOOO! I unshelled the others to find a ton of greenery waiting to escape. I shelled them and dropped them, sprout-side up, in a bowl of water. They're now incubating under a grow light in my kitchen.

4 Days and 4 Nights.

Planting seeds, the perfect way to stay horticulturally productive during a monsoon. These here are soy seeds waiting to be covered by a smidgen of earth. I have them in Jiffy pots which really helps me remember where they are when I put them in the ground. I poke a hole in the bottoms, bury them with just a bit of rim showing and am able to conclude that, if something is growing outside the boundaries of a Jiffy, its probably an intruder to be yanked.

Booo, Rain. I mean, YEAH Rain.

There's good news and bad news. The good news is that we're getting a freakin ton of much needed rain and I'm catching what I can before I finish my homemade rain barrel. The bad is that I'm stuck inside with pent up momentum. Time for more seedlings...

The Urban Garden Project! We're In!

I'm so excited! I'm part of the Urban Garden Project™!

"The Urban Garden Project™ is the initiative to encourage people to learn from history, become more self-reliant, save a significant amount of money, and eat healthier, all as a result of planting their own urban garden! The goal of The Urban Garden Project™ is to encourage and catalog the creation of 100,000 urban gardens by 2020." (Urban Garden Project™: urbangardenproject.wordpress.com)

Like Baby Tortoises on a Beach...

Ahaha, hey lil fellas! Here I have a row of kale sproutlets and an army of swiss chard seedlings. May they grow to be bountiful masses!

Anyone want Greens, or Reds for that Matter?

Our Arugula and Lettuce are popping at the seems. (Especially after surviving the Blizzard of 2009). So...if anyone would like a few handfuls of Red Leaf or Arugula, just lemme know...The Red Leaf has turned out to be relatively mild but the Arugula packs a serious punch! Yummmm.

Lucky Ducks.

Can you believe it? I found a tonnnn of iris bulbs just scattered about in our backyard; lil patches of lost and lonely plants just trying to make it amidst the bumble and brime of milkweed and dandelion. I scooped them up and moved them to the front to line a small path to our water hose. They seem pleased.

And what more, they definitely added to the aesthetics of our veggie garden. Now, I just have to remember not to plant any food-stuffs in their vicinity so we dont get poisoned...

I like P.L.A.C.E.

My friend Craig is rad and began P.L.A.C.E. to "promote local agriculture and cultural experiences". P.L.A.C.E. offers farm tours and all sorts of community events. They're doing good things. Check it out...

Spotted Team Surviver

As you can see here, the remaining members of Spotted Team are hanging their heads low and retreating to the wilderness.

Sadly, Only the Strong will Survive.

This guy is from "Orange Team". With 16 brothers and sisters, we decided to forgo formal names and assign them teams: "Orange Team" and "Spotted Team". As with most ecosystems, there are winners and there are losers. Apparently, "Orange Team" is kicking the dirt outta "Spotted Team" who has suffered a tremendous loss of at least five teammates.

BathTub Water Garden.

Boy did we luck out. When I bought this house, the previous owner left a multitude of interesting items...a bike, a ceramic owl lamp, some matchbox cars, and...this super freakin rad claw-foot tub. What better use of another man's trash than to house 16 goldfish in your front yard. And, in the spirit of drought tolerance, it'll be a gray-water home for our new friends.

May I Present the Fore-Fathers of this Vast new Terrain:

Dig Dug.

Holy Geez. I've been digging my tale off. Note the hard, clay-like consistency of the terrain. I went at it with all my 100 lbs. of maniacal fury and a shovel to shape and mend the area. Kinda like large scale grooming. As this was all rotten-handle-shovel-work, I now have the hands of a crab fisherman on the open sea...very Ernest Hemingway...I kinda like it. I also ordered a dumptruck load of wood chips (sorry neighbors for covering your driveway) to build up the beds. The granite sand is arriving today to fill the paths. Again, neighbors, should you decide to use your driveway, it may be occupied for a bit longer...

The Grand Master Plan.

I devised a plan. I wanted a super curvy landscape or accessible, edible treats. This is in code. The good news is that it looks pretty, the bad, is that I cant really recall what the letters represent. Time to get to work...

Yummy Yummy Rosemary

So, after planting things all willy-nilly last season, I've matured into being far more calculating in my plant placement. With this row of rosemary, I honestly felt like a super-pro landscaper at a car dealership or something. I was proud. I also really "dig" the idea of smelling rosemary upon arrival.

Post Post Apocolyptic Yard

And here's the yard about 7 months later after we raised the money to build our fence. My fiancee build this inch by inch (he even made the pickets, talk about custom made). Then I scraped a hearty layer of weeds off the surface and laid mulch/newspaper beds.

Post-Apolcolyptic Yard.

The aftermath of destruction is never pretty. Here's our yard after digging up the grass. A relatively lovely site to see considering...

Survivors...

Luckily, there were a few stragglers along the periphery that were spared: a prayiing mantis that, hopefully, didnt suffer some sort of death shock from my shoving a giant camera in its face, and some lovely flowers (till I cut them and threw them in a vase in our kitchen, that is).

Fatalities!

When ripping out a lawn, there are a few deaths along the way. RIP: bitter (seemingly poisonous) lettuce, decoy collards, tomatoes, kale, and tiny chard. You were missed but your death was not in vain.

Good riddance to the following: bastard bermuda grass, milkweed, and other assorted and sundry lawn invaders.

First Things Second.

So, in the spirit of being a novice, we decided to jump in head first and just grow some greens. We dug up some deep rooted grass, burmed up a few rows and started planting, no rhyme or reason. The kale was the big winner, followed by the tomatoes that later arrived. The lettuce was hysterically bitter (seriously, unbelievably bitter) and bled some kind of white goo that seemed a little suspicious. The Collards became sacrificial decoy plants and attracted the predators. This worked pretty well till we realized that we had to thin out the plants and ultimately should remove the entire lawn...

AHAHAH, Our Yard Sucked!

Literally, it sucked. Our yard sucked up rain, sunshine, and fuel from our really old mower. It was completely useless. It rarely rains here in the summers and it was all wasted on this pointless terrain that devoured even the bravest of newcomers (for instance, these two saplings were STRUGGLING). Then there's the concrete path which led to a flooded area in our garage. Again, precious rain water sent "down the drain" or "drive" for that matter.

On the bright side though, we got a TON of sunshine (that pun is intended).