Diet Coke Garden

This year's garden is planted again; with the naive and daring belief that

something will come of it.

Thanks to, James, at Town and Country, and their little climate tested packets of seeds, I was able to

buy the usual:

radishes
onions (walla walla and a couple rows of Bunching Tokyo Long Whites)
Carrots (Danvers)
Pumpkins (Autumn Gold)
Squash
Red potatoes
and
Peas

I was also able to surmise the veggies that will do best in the shade our garden is doomed for.  Unless we take out one of the remaining, large branches from the tree that got hit earlier by the snow fall that took down other branches. Just not the one that would give sun to the garden.

So here is the list:

Rutabaga
Early Wonder Beets
Butter Crunch Lettuce
and
Lettuce- Salad Bowl variety

Tickled that the garden was tilled by Little brother, and that I was planning on Padre building a couple of trellis' to make the pumpkins and peas grow vertical, I went confidently outside with a Diet Coke and my seed packets in a flat carboard box.

I put in the radishes. Followed by the onions.

Painstakingly I followed the rules by taking in account of the timing (relative in Idaho), depth, distance of the seeds for a row and the distance between rows. "Digging" 1/8 inch 'holes' is a pain. One, because a breeze could pick up and blow that much dirt off and your seeds away. Two; it could rain. And if it rains too hard- like it did on Saturday- it could pack down the earth too much where they can't grow or they just get swept away by a Tsunami in the garden.

There were probably birds sitting on a telephone wire doing the
exact calculations ,of depth and distance,
so they could eat the seeds.

But before any of those travesties could occur, I planted the carrots. I marked them with sticks, tied twine around each to keep kids out, left walking room in between the diff. varieties- to make for easy weeding and I even made a main walk way lined with a flat of discount petunias in
Double Pink Rose Madness.
I like the
Madness part.

Then I had to take a break. Clouds that had been looming were finally starting to sprinkle and I didn't want my packets to get wet. Trying to carry a hoe, small shovel, gloves and balance the cardboardbox with my opened Diet Coke, I stumbled over the hose in my turquoise rubber gardening clogs.

The pop spilled into the box. Frantically, I dropped everything except the box and started throwing packets out. 

However, a few packets absorbed 

Diet Coke.

Town and Country has probably not tested this along side Idaho climate in their horticulture labs.
So that makes me a first and a soon to be expert in
that department.

'Lettuce' bawl into our salad bowls anyway, shall we?

Each wet packet had to be emptied onto a paper plate,

dried and put in new envelopes.

Later, I planted the Diet Coke dipped seeds into the rest of the garden.

J. let that cat out of the bag later when Padre asked why I put all the seeds in new envelopes.

Padre could only shake his head.

And this was before Madre made the comment that it took a lot of 'faith' to try and grow a garden. She was eluding to the weather and futile efforts of previous years. But if you look at the size of the seeds...

(some of the seeds got dropped in my bed so I am expecting something to sprout in the coming week.

If they don't come in a week- it's into the wash they go. Not willing to experiment by keeping the same sheets for a few months.)

It kinda does feel quite gutsy to try such a feat as growing a garden.

 Especially when you can just run to the store and buy some red potatoes. Who eats Rutabaga?

I don't.

But we are gonna cause that is what grows in our garden.
R-u-t-a-b-a-g-a.

Now, we will have to not only hope that little slivers of seeds will erupt from the ground and grow, but do so after a bath

in

Diet Coke.

 At this point the garden should be an "experiment".

Lessens the internal/emotional pain.  

But I have to keep a positive attitude because Padre is already on trellis' that involve rebar, electrical conduit poles and corners (corner back brackets) that have to do with plumbing material or maybe buidling buildings. Oh, and 3/8 inch nylon string that apparently you can get at Home Depot.

And just a quick tip- 1/2 inch rebar will FIT in 1/2 inch conduit. Small lesson learned. They are measured differently. One on the inside- the other on the outside. So don't fall for the  person at the steel place telling you that you need 3/8 inch rebar to fit in the conduit. (the rebar comes in 20 foot poles.)

Oh, and once you have your trellis and a Squash tree you can plant rutabaga or Tyhee hybrid Spinach at its base; maximizing your garden space.

Stay tuned on the Trellis making. It's turning into a Memorial Day project for Padre. And I am really wondering if it will give more light to the plants, keep bugs off and be an overall awesome idea I pulled from someone else's ideas from Google and Youtube!

Thanks, John, from: growingyourgreens.com for youtube interviewing Tyler, from Future Farms; (who tells about growing pumpkins, vertically.) a guy who farms in his back yard as a side job and does farmer's markets somewhere in California. Which is key. California= SUN.

Side note: I will include measurement sizes of the electrical conduit, rebar, and where to find the netting, pricing and whatever when Padre shows me the extent of all his efforts.(which at the posting of this story- it is now passed Mem. Day and into a weekend and Padre is still working on my Squash Trellis and the trellis for my peas. He's slow because of everything on his plate.