Yep, that's cow poop

The "before" picture: 

 

The "after" picture:

How I did it:  took out boxes, re-mixed dirt w/ more compost, pulled weeds til my finger nails bled, re-layed weed fabric (double layer!), used power tools (!) to fix boxes and make them sturdy again, put boxes back, filled in dirt, hauled rocks and more rocks (I am never doing that again, btw), and THEN planted our starts that we bought at the nursery (no, I don't do my own any more - don't judge).  And I would say I did it ALL by myself, but I did have some slave labor help:

 Just don't tell their moms when I "babysit", it's actually a day full of hard labor.  And yes, Cody, that is manure - code word for poop.

And of course, I did let my boys help with the exciting part.

 

 Can't wait to see how it turns out!

Still Growing Strong

Last week this is what my garden looked like:

And it was still producing:

And now, what to do with ALL this:

Don't get me wrong, I do LOVE having a garden, but I think I need to work on a little variety next year.  We have been eating squash and zucchini way too much lately.  And since I'm the only one who eats tomatoes, that is getting old too.  (Although I did find a really yummy zucchini soup recipe that I have made several times and even my kids eat it.)  We did have ONE cantaloupe that I babied all summer, and then it got plucked by one un-named two year old and left on the lawn too long. :(

But I am already excited for next year - any tips for not having my beans and peas die?  Oh, and I think I will plant lots of pumpkins.  Those are fun.

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Very well, thank you!

I was quite pleased with how our square foot gardens turned out this year.  My husband was doubtful, but I think I proved him wrong.  (oh, the small pleasures). 

So here's how it went down - from the beginning...

The boxes my hubby so kindly made:

Colton working hard at making the perfect mix.  The boys thought it was fun to play in it until I told them they were playing with cow poop.

All filled with dirt and looking beautiful. (There was supposed to be pea gravel in between, but, yeah, that never happened.)

Taking care of our seedlings shortly before planting:

Square feet marked off:

Planting the marigolds to ward of the pests:  (Don't look at that thing in his mouth, now that it has been gone for awhile it really makes me wince.)

And in the end?

Some things made it, some didn't.  Sometimes it didn't get enough water.  Sometimes things got left too long and went to waste.  But really, the best part is that we have had lots of yummy, fresh produce and my kids learned a little bit about where food comes from.  And so far they really enjoy the tasks of gardening.

 

And doesn't that look tasty?

And since this is our first time doing it this way, here's what I learned:

• Even though we love squash and zuchinni, I really can plant less than 3 or 4 plants of each. (But I have found some really yummy new recipes to use them in!)
• Although many of our seedlings worked, it may not be worth it considering some of the plants are only .75 to buy and that my sanity was waning after a certain 2 yr old pulled them out or dumped them repeatedly.
• Beware of squash bugs. You can buy something that kills them, but I learned that too late to save our poor pumpkins.
• Prop up tomatoes early on, or they will go crazy and you may become too lazy (or overwhelmed or something) to deal with it.
• Keep an eye on wild hooligans that may find it fun to whack at plants with sword-like objects.
• Remember what was planted - I kept waiting for my "green" tomatoes to turn red.
• The soil mix really does work . . . no weeds!  (In the garden anyway, too bad our lawn was covered.)

Any other pointers?  How did your garden turn out?  Do you do traditional or boxed?  I really want to know.

Gettin' Dirty

The hottest, sweatiest, dirtiest day of my trip was also one of the best.  I love getting out of the city into the rural villages, and this project didn't disappoint. 

The Project: Square Foot Gardening.  Not going to go into detail on what it is and why we do it, because you can find out more on HELP's website.  I'll just tell you what we did with lots of pics to make it a little more fun to read.  The day I went was the first demonstration in that community and a good time of learning and teamwork was had by all.  Whether you are or are not familiar with this method of gardening, you will see that it is a bit different in the thrid world than it is here.  You cannot just go to the hard ware store to get your perfect boxes and then to the gardening store to pick up vermiculite and peat moss.  You have to adapt.  So here's the step by step . . .

Clear the ground (you dont want weeds growing in it already).

Gather rocks from the river.

Build a square box.

Place newspaper in the bottom and wet it down.

Get the richest dirt you can find (until you can use your compost), which in this case also comes from the river.  And yes, the local women could carry much more than even some of our male volunteers.

Fill the box with dirt.  The women clapped each time dirt was dumped in - they were all very excited.

Prepare the rest of the mix.  In this case, dried leaves and ash.

Add the mix to the dirt and that was it for this day.  Of course, we also talked to them about the purpose of it, how to take care of it, the nutritional benefits it can provide, etc.

So one woman in the group was lucky enough to be the recipient of this first model garden.  The others were challenged to go home and build their own.  If they would prepare the "box", with whatever materials they could find, and the soil, then in two weeks when volunteers returned, we would provide them with seeds and chicken wire.   A deal for them, because it did not require them to spend any money and being generally more resourceful than we were, they could probably do this much more efficiently and effectively than we could.

Chicken wire is required to protect the garden from the many animals that tend to be randomly wondering around their homes (and no doubt soon to be part of some meal).

All in all, a great day - successful training on a project that I love and I got to get out a see a different side of El Salvador.  Here's some other pics from the day:

The house where we built the garden.

The latrine (this is actually a pretty nice one).

I think it's always like this.

Salvadoran baby swing.

Riding the back of a truck, again, fun for like the first 10 min, but gets old after two+ hours.  Ignore the fact that I look completely bald, after the huge rat's nest I had the day before, I was not risking having to cut out any more knots in my hair.