Portland’s Back Yard Gardening Great in 2008
August 7th, 2008 by dirkknudsenHey everyone! Summer is in Full swing in 2008 and for the first time in some years we decided to take a stab at gardening. The soils in our subdivision are not the best as in most neighborhoods…the top soils were covered by excavated fill from the construction of homes and streets. But here in Bethany, Oregon I was determined we would find a way to get as much out of our 3000 sf back yard as we can. Feeding three boys and paying for Gas in a downward economy is not fun.
So off I went into the backyard with some soil, tools, and nothing but some ideas in my head. It has been a while. But slowly some things started coming back to me and the internet is a big help in times like these. I planted seeds for vine crops like cucumbers, Pumpkins, Zucchini, Yellow Squash, beans, carrots, and corn. We than planted Lettuce, Strawberries, Broccoli, Onions, cantaloupe, and some choice herbs. It was a lot of work… and without a drip irrigation it has been a lot of early mornings watering. It was a slow start in May and I wa slike “oh man nothing is growing”.
The kids helped some; my little guy Kole especially. After all the waiting and watering it happened. The first to come was the lettuce and Broccoli! Man it was and is good. The Romaine Lettuce just keeps coming. I can not begin to eat it all and it is the most hardy. The Broccoli grows so fast that we can’t eat it all. Than came the Sweet Peas and Beans…… now Carrots, Zucchini (Yum with Butter and Garlic), Strawberries which our neighborhood Skunk is eating…oh well he is cute but smelly! The pumpkins are going now and so are the yellow squash and heck the corn is making an effort. We are not getting fat off the food but it is fun.
As we ate Cucumbers we regained something that is often times lost. We regained an appreciation for the earth and what it can do for us and for putting shovel to ground and seeing what can happen. It would be hard to survive this way but on a small scale it is healthy, fun, and rewarding. We are enjoying our garden here in Portland, Oregon this Summer. I want to urge you all to take up some tools and some planter boxes, whiskey barrells, furrows, or even plow up some grass and plant something. This has been fun and next year we are bringing in some better soil and probably going to get better usage by doing planter boxes as rows while efficient are not as productive!
Check out our Pics Here of our Garden so Far:
