Okay, which end of the seed is up?

So, I find a funny thing happens when you obsess over the creation of a garden.  After spending roughly a week planning and three days implementing, I'm having trouble wrenching my brain out of the garden, so to speak.  That said, with a bit of luck this stage of the project is over.  We have seeds in soil!

Started the day by designing a square grid based on the Square Foot Gardening book mentioned previously.  This was somewhat complicated by the fact that for roughly half the day my legs and arms were too sore to stand up straight.  But, after careful analysis and no less than 20 seconds of thought, I drew up a grid using nearly all the seeds at my disposal.

Everything from the conventional plants such as carrots and radishes, through far more exotic and weird things like white radishes.  And white cucumbers.  And that salsify stuff.  And red lettuce.  Okay, maybe it isn't as exotic as all that, but so be it.

As I said, got the grid all drawn up, and put together some string lines to mark out the grid.  The Square Foot Garden system recommends (shockingly) laying out a 4x4 square foot grid, sub-divided into a series of individual 1x1 foot squares.  For those of us who have trouble with remedial math, that's 16 squares per block.  You put a different plant in each square, and break down the number of plants you put in each square based on how much space it needs.  So, something like radishes only needs about 3" square a piece, so you can put a total of 16 plants per square, where as something like a tomato plant takes up a full square foot patch. Result looks something like this:

Then, thanks to the magic of the internets, you go outside and speak the magic words, and this happens!

Okay, maybe it's not quite as easy as that, but close. The previous garden builders were kind enough to make it 5x10', allowing me to put in two 4x4' grids, along with a 2 foot path in the middle, and a foot of space next to the house.  We ended up fudging things ever so slightly and putting in a bunch of marigolds all around the garden.  And a little red man.  We're looking for a name for him as well.

(By the way, that is arguably the most awesome trellis we saw in all of our garden gear hunting.  I'm thinking of getting a proper Tom Baker scarf for him, to help him when winter hits.)

Anyway, we got the seeds, marigolds, and tomatoes into the ground without too much trouble.   Now I spend a few days cuddling with a bottle of ibuprofen, and dreaming of all the tasty goodness waiting for me down the line.

Oh, and partaking of the first big harvest from the garden plot that started this whole thing over at Benson Community Garden!