Today I Planted Willy Nilly!

Published on Sunday, April 11, 2010 by Katherine

19 Comments ↓

Years ago my mother bought me my first Square Foot Gardening book.  I followed the book religiously that year.  Perfect squares, water sitting in a bucket hours before watering… yup, that was pre-children.  The things you can do before you have kids.

Fast forward three children later.  Today my daughter and I went to Kmart for dirt, seeds and plants.  “Oh, that looks good!”  Toss it in!  “I love peas!”  Let’s get ‘em!  “Wow… purple heirloom tomatoes!”  Absolutely!

No tools, mismatched gloves and Miracle Grow dirt meant for trees and shrubs rather than for gardens. Oops!  Throw it all in, mix it up and start planting those tomatoes.  But where should the cucumbers go?  OK, that’s perfect!   Wait, we already put seeds in there.  Oh well, put them in any way!  You get the idea?

So within one hour, we filled two squares with the wrong dirt, seeds, plants and no plan whatsoever.  Crammed together this summer will be at least 6 types of tomatoes, including some with yellow, blue and black coloring.  There will be jalapenos, cucumbers, peas, lima beans, watermelon, squash, herbs, long Asian beans and who knows what else.

Halfway through planting, my oldest son came out and said, “You look like an old lady!”  Thanks, hon.  Now get me some depends before we are overrun with pees. Peas. Whatever.

And the icing on the garden cake?  We took a handful of lettuce seeds and literally tossed them across both squares of dirt.

My vegetable garden is a beautiful representation of my life.  Willy Nilly.  Put something here.  Toss something there.  Sprinkle a bit in between.  Then, stand back and see what takes root and grows.

Have you planted a garden yet?   What are you planning to grow this year?  Does your garden contain neat and tidy rows?  And if so, does that mirror your life and home?