Gardening Logistics

Now that I’ve started this blog, I’m getting more interested in how to make a successful garden.  And it's probably not a surprise that it’s more complicated than I thought.  Many plants, like my eating habits, are finicky.  They need water.  They need sunlight.  They need shade.  They need nutrients.  They can’t be eaten by insects, birds, groundhogs, or deer.

I’ve lived in this house for just over two months, and I’ve seen quite a few sunrises, so I have a pretty good idea where the sun comes up in the morning.  And I’ve gotten home right around sunset fairly often, so I have a pretty good idea where the sun goes down in the evening.  But I really haven’t paid much attention to how much sunlight the garden gets (or doesn’t get) during the bulk of the day.  There are trees, my house, and my neighbor’s garage, all potentially standing between the sun and my future plants.  So one of these days, I need to figure out the sun’s trajectory across the sky and from that, whether I need to plant sun-loving plants or shady plants.  And it shouldn’t be too hard to do; after all, I am a meteorologist.

Another logistical hurdle I need to overcome is how to get water from my spigot to the garden.  Much like how the internet has been purported to be a series of tubes, I need a series of hoses to reach all the way from the spigot on the near side of the house to the garden behind the far side of the house.  I suppose it’s really not that complicated.  I have a hose of my own, and a hose was left in the garden when I got here, so I suppose I just need another hose or two and a few connectors, and I’ll be all set.  But still, that’s a lot of hoses!

I'm sure this is only the beginning.  I know virtually nothing about how to plant and maintain a garden.  Fortunately, I'll have all winter to research the things I need to know, and by the spring I'll be ready to go.