A season of firsts...

My mom was here visiting a week ago and as I showed her all my little projects she said, "You should blog about this stuff." So, here I am.

This is my first year ever doing a garden. I'm not quite sure why I decided to do one, perhaps because there's not much better to do around here. Far fewer distractions, here in Grant County, Oregon, than in most places I can think of. Since it's my first garden ever, you'd think I'd start gradually, but no. I really caught the gardening bug. I think after I planted a few Johnny Jump Up (Viola) seeds and they actually sprouted, I thought, "Maybe I can do this!" So, I went to Territorial Seed's web site and began adding seeds to my proverbial basket. I decided to grow things we would legitimately eat, in particular, salad stuff, salsa stuff with a few things here or there for fun.

We've got sorrento broccoli raab, napa carrots, Tom Thumb butterhead lettuce, Valmaine romaine lettuce, black beauty zucchini squash, Fantastic red tomatoes, Gold Nugget yellow cherry tomatoes, Waltham Butternut Squash, Raider Cucumbers, Wonder Bell Peppers, a surprise hot pepper blend, summer isle green onions, Idaho bulb onions, radishes, pumpkins, peas, and green beans. Whew!

Not to mention my herb garden! Mostly due to my chickens (yes, chickens....) and wanting to feed them herbs along with their regular feed and use herbs in the coop, I have chamomile, catnip, oregano, parsley, mint, marigold, nasturtium and lavender growing. Then the husband suggested we have cilantro (one of his faves). We've been growing everything inside, weary of the frost (still am!) and our dining room table has transitioned from it's main function into a greenhouse.

We also have two apple trees, though one is quite diseased, half dead and barely produced fruit last year. I took my first adventure into tree pruning this spring. I went quite conservative and now wish I would've been a little more heavy handed. We learned last fall that we have quite the deer problem in our yard! The apples really draw them in! One night I heard all this thumping against the house. I hopped out of bed, looked out our bedroom window to see at least 30 deer recreating in our backyard. How to keep the deer out of the garden became a big problem to solve.

We ended up building a 7 foot high fence around our plot. My first solo trip to the lumber store, my first time mixing concrete, my first staple gun! It's been a fun adventure. So, to recap, my first steps were ordering seeds, planting them, roto-tilling and deer proofing our garden plot.

The garden plot in progress.

Our good apple tree.

Thanks to our friends, the Witty's, for lending us the rototiller.

Our first chicks. 

Seeds! 

Tomatoes. 

Peppers. 

I don't really know where this blog journey is going. I just thought I'd document my road to learning new skills and becoming a biologist/horticulturist/farmer/homesteader/doomsdayprepper. Please ask questions!