Free Day Day Two: Tomatoes and Peppers are planted!

Hello BraceKyle!

So we are on to the recap of day two with no dayjob. The weather cooled quite a bit, and I got to spend even more time out of doors. I weeded and I planted and I planted some more.

Free Day Number One: Planted the Salad Bed

Hey BraceKyle,

As said in my last post, I had two days of freedom from work before my trip to Maine (stay tuned). Day One was HOT! So hot that after 30 minutes outside, I got dizzy. I took many breaks, but still managed to get my salad plot planted.

A thorough update and overview of my efforts so far

SUPERKASEY!  We are now nearly two months into our little competition, and I hope you are feeling as good about this as I am.  Because, uh, you know.  They say it’s my year.

Whatever that means.

I wanted to drop you a general update on the goings-on in my garden.  Here is how things are looking now:

Re-Purposed Newspaper & Sweet Little peas

Hello BraceKyle,

Its been crazy these days. I’ll explain soon but for now, lets talk newspapers.

As a PR professional, I share the dismay of people whohate to watch our reporter’s lives get harder. But I also love the paper itself. We made kites with it when I was a kid and now I use it in my garden! I will show you one of its many uses today: Making seed pots!

Organizing the raised bed

Hey there, SuperKasey.  I hope you are enjoying this weather.  Your view on pest control was good to read, and I’m glad to know that frogs eat slugs.  To answer your question, I am going organic with my crops.  I’m not intensely devoted to the organic trend, but if I’m growing a little garden on my own, it doesn’t make sense to me to use inorganic materials to pump it up or protect it.  Plus, those things cost money.  I’m more interested in finding natural, cheap or non-chemical ways of growing things.

Organization is a problem for me. In general.  In life.  I can be organized when I wish to be, but at heart I am a chaotic entity (some have said I worship at the feet of the goddess Discord).  Having said that, I knew that this garden thing had to be more orderly than my sock drawer.  I read about many people’s efforts to keep things neat and tidy, and I talked to a few gardeners.

SuperKasey’s Superbabies (Seedlings)!

Hello BraceKyle,

Just when you least expect it, HERE I AM!

Before the planting season hits here, I gotta keep busy. Most of the time is spent planning and then when I just can’t take it anymore…I plant seedlings.

These little guys get all my attention until the weather breaks.

By seed or by plant

Hello, SuperKasey!  How is Chicago?  Windy enough for you?

This post is not about dirt.  Okay?  Stop giving me guff over my posts about dirt.  THE DIRT IS IMPORTANT!

So, as I dive into this whole shebang, I’m thinking about whether ’tis better to plant by seed or from a plant.

I hear pros and cons from both sides of the aisle, so to speak, and I think that several considerations must be undertaken.

SuperKasey’s Awesome City Backyard!

Hello BraceKyle,

I know you have visited and seen it in full bloom, but I wanted to give you an idea of my backyard before May and its bounty.

The garden plot was put into place by a previous tenant. They put it in painstakingly, removing weeds, digging in a brick border, planting boxwoods… Another tenant then put up a fence and planted a grape vine. It seems to have grown Concord grapes for at least five years now.

The challenge and delight of living in a building with this in the backyard is that it attracts other gardeners. This plot will be broken up between me and my neighbors.

The decision to build a raised bed

Good evening, SuperKasey.  Spring is in full swing here, and my garden plans are ticking along nicely.

As you know, I live in suburban St. Louis.  This means I have a pretty extensive yard and lots of trees with big, beautiful foliage.  The yard is mostly shaded with little pockmarks of sunlight that shift as the day waxes and wanes.  It’s really beautiful.  And it sucks for gardening.

BraceKyle’s garden: an introduction

Greetings, SuperKasey!  I’m ready to tackle this endeavor like Helen Keller tackled speaking and reading and writing and everything else she did.  Really, I’m just excited about the project, as I imagine Helen Keller was about much of life. (Disclaimer: Helen Keller is one of my personal idols; I mean no disrespect.)

So, our endeavor.  As I understand it, our aim here is to maintain separate (but equal?) gardens hundreds of miles apart (you in Chicago, I in St. Louis) though in the same general region of the US of A and to measure our own results.  Yes?