Our first garden

Early views of the 5 acres of grasses ranging from wetland to buffer varieties appeared to be amenable to finding a relatively small garden plot for vegetables, though we imagined some challenges.

While we were still living in the trailer we attempted to grow tomatoes and pole beans in the native soil. The results were disappointing - early summer didn't provide enough heat to satisfy tomatoes and both grew poorly. One conclusion was that the soil was too poor for growing vegetables. A soil test and later attempts confirmed this. We were able to grow flowers in containers, but growing in the native soil required major soil amendments even in flower beds next to the house.

My very first gardening effort was transplanting the grape  plants I had rooted in Snoqualmie. The slow growth of these normally vigorous plants was disconcerting - grape plants aren't generally sensitive to the quality of the soil. Supported by his initial experience we decided to grow in raised beds with imported soil.

We started with Hugelkultur (a base of wood and organic material) covered with a local product from municipal waste from the City of Tacoma called Tagro, said to be perfect or growing vegetables, and flowers, too.

We had an abundance of marigold plants and flower bulbs (dahlia and liatris) and space in the two beds was used up quickly. So we brought in a third bed for vegetables. Our first serious planting included summer squash, carrots, bush beans, beets, lettuce and spinach.

Daughter Bevin donated raspberry canes, which found a place between the rasied beds. As these grew the necessity of a trellis was obvious.

Quite ambitious in our first gardening experiences here, we transplanted into containers that Maura managed on the back deck (tomato, pepper and herbs). We discovered the Early Girl variety of tomato and were very pleased with the vigor and the fruit. More of these next season.

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