The Art of Zen Living

One of the things I’ve been excited about since I moved into the new place what that I would be able to plant a garden.  We put a small strawberry patch in out front, and I’ve been working semi-diligently to get an area in the back cleared of grass, edged and free of rocks.  I’m sure we’ll be talking more about some of the details of the garden as I learn more about it.  A good example is the dirt.  I know it looks nice and dark and fertile, but it isn’t.  Today I just want to talk a little about the benefits of having a garden, and tell you a little about what I’m doing with mine.  I promise, no more bold, colored words in this post - I just wanted to get a little color into the front page.

I really want to tell you all about the benefits I see from putting in a garden.  I’m having a hard time deciding where to start.  It’s green, so you’re doing something good for the planet.  It’s frugal, so you’re doing something good for your wallet.  Once the garden starts producing you’ll have all sorts of goodies you can be generous with, so it’s good for your karma.  Home grown food also tastes a lot better than what you can get in the store, so it’s good for your tummy.  Everything you grow in a garden is going to be packed with vitamins and minerals, so it’s good for your health.  Gardening also provides an hour or two a week (or more, if you want) of labor that can be done mindfully or mindlessly - depending on which you feel will be more beneficial to you at the time.  I’m sure that are a lot of other benefits that haven’t even occurred to me yet.  So now let’s talk about my garden!

The house that we’re renting has a yard, but it also has a pool.  In Florida, that means a large pool deck and screened cage covering the whole thing.  Which means most of the yard is taken up, so space is still (sort of) at a premium.  I’m further limited (understandably) by the fact that the landlord would prefer I not rip out the front lawn to plant food crops.

There is some space in the planter along the front of the house, and I’ve used that to plant a strawberry patch, some sweet pumpkins and a watermelon vine.  The strawberries and pumpkins I expect will do well.  The watermelons, well, one can hope, but that was planted more because a 9 year old I know REALLY wanted me to grow him some watermelon!  So we’re giving it a try.

On the right are the strawberries, and on the left are (what will be) several pumpkin vines.  Off to the right out of the picture, on the other side of the flowering bush, is the area where the watermelon vines are sprouting.

The strawberry plants I splurged on and bought at Lowe’s.  $2.99 each, plus incidentals, came to $25.35.  I had a $10 off a purchase of $25 or more, so the total was 15.35 for 6 strawberry plants, and 2 cubic feet of garden dirt.  We stopped at Walmart next for seeds - at ten cents a package, it was the best place to get seeds.  So the total cost for what went out front (pretty much all I thought I could get away with putting out front) was $15.55.  Not bad.  The strawberry plants have already doubled in size, so I think we’ll start seeing fruit from them pretty soon!  I’ll let you know when we hit the “break even” point for the front yard!

Here we have the pumpkin vines.  Things grow FAST in Florida - these seeds were planted about 6 days before these pictures were taken.

Out back we have…nothing, really.  Except cleared area, a few blisters and a plan.  As you can see, I’ve cleared out behind the storage shed and down one side of it (since the pictures were taken I’ve cleared about another 15 feet along the side o the shed.).

Here’s the back of the shed (which is the side of the yard):

And here is the side of the shed, which is the back of the yard.  The orientation of the shed is important later.

As I’ve mentioned, I’ve already cleared another 15 or so feet - in truth, I didn’t think the watermelons had a chance, and now I’m not so sure.  If they start to take off, I’m going to move them into the extra space.  This is the back of the yard.  You can see the “pool cage” on the right, the back fence and all the way down at the end, in the corner, is a grapefruit tree.  Yes, they’re yummy.  There’s also a tangerine tree in the front yard!

Summer isn’t the best time for planting in Florida, so I’ve started just a few little seedlings to try out over the summer months.  Mostly it’s practice for me so that when the fall planting season gets here, I’ll be ready.  What you see here are 2 different kinds of tomatoes and a tray of brocoli.  We planted a tray of bell peppers too, but so far nothing has sprouted in that one.

I bought a total of four of these trays - they were on clearance for 2 for a dollar.  I figure I’ll get several uses out of them.  The next picture you’ll see what I’m going to be using for the majority of my pre-planting.  I’m trying to save and re-use as much as I can.  It’s freen.  Or maybe grugle.  No, neither of those words are any good.  The idea, I’m sure you’ve figured out, is that I’m trying to be both green and frugal by reusing household garbage as planters.  These frugal green planters are growing sunflowers.  I selected the kind that not only attract bees (garden needs pollinated!) but they also are supposed to produce edible sunflower seeds.  What I didn’t notice until too late was that they can grow to twelve feet tall.  They sure look tiny now though, don’t they?

So there you have it - my current plans and progress on the Zen Vegetable Garden (or ZVG for short).