So anyway, besides gardening a lot of my summer was taken up working hard(er than normal) saving up for and going on an amazing last minute trip to Costa Rica with my friend Ariel. I spent a week traveling around with her seeing the sights and then a week on my own staying with a wonderful Costarican family I was blessed to meet. It was a great experience. I'll do my best to get those photos up before the digital media they're stored on decomposes.

A few weeks after I got back I was blessed to be able to do another short trip with my friend Phil. We both really enjoy backpacking and wanted to get at least one trip in before the summer was out. We were initially thinking of trying to find a spot in Southwestern B.C., Canada, but after having a little trouble finding info and some pretty bad weather forecasts, we decided to head east over to Central Oregon. We ended up doing a three day loop at Diamond Peak, and it was definitely interesting. Again, I'll work on posting the rest of the photos and the story, you know, hopefully before next summer.

So, for the record, here is what I planted or transplanted in what beds and when.

• Wednesday, June 3rd - Transplanted four of the tomato plants into the 4x8 foot bed: 2 Japanese Black Trifele, 1 Manitoba and 1 Blondkopfchen.
• Saturday, June 6th - Transplanted two more tomatoes into the 4x8 foot bed: 1 Manitoba and 1 Blondkopfchen. Transplanted 9 Lacinato Kale, 12 Di Cicco Broccoli, and 6 more lettuce plants into the new 4x6 foot bed. Hilled up the potatoes.
• Tuesday, June 9th - Transplanted peppers and eggplants: 4 Jalapeņos, 3 Thai Hot Peppers, 4 Napoleon Sweet Peppers and 3 Lao Green Stripe Eggplants in the 4x4 foot bed, and 1 Napoleon Sweet and 1 Eggplant in the 4x8 foot bed (to give them a little extra spacing to see what difference that might make).
• Saturday, June 13th - Thinned Danver's Half Long Carrots and moved some into the new 4x6 foot bed. Planted some cilantro, 9 Empress Beans, 8 Fin de Bagnol Beans, some French Breakfast Radishes and 4 Early Blood Turnips (Beets) in the new 4x6 foot bed in between the kale/broccoli and the lettuce that were on each end.

In you're a beginner gardener reading this, note that I am a beginner too (or at least I am at the time I'm writing this) and that a lot of these things I probably got in the ground way later than I should have. The kale and broccoli in particular should have been in the ground a month or more ago, I think. I just didn't have a place to put them until a week or two ago, so I got them transplanted when I could. We'll see how everything does, and I can always improve the timing and the process next year. I'll definitely be keeping y'all updated.  :)

Anyway, beside the joy of getting most of the beds built and most everything planted (I still have Early Fortune Cucumbers and Amish Snap Peas to put in), I got to see everything I had already planted grow! Since I've never done this before and don't know what to expect, I was pleasantly surprised for example to see that the potato plants develop flowers on them. And so far, the colors of the flowers correspond to the colors of the potatoes, more/less. I've got blueish-purple flowers coming up from the All Blue Potatoes and white flowers coming up from a whiter variety (can't remember the name...some other ones that Hillary gave me). The red potatoes still haven't developed flowers, so we'll see what those look like when they come. Anyway, I love going out every day and looking at their progress. It's pretty amazing. I took some photos after I got all these main beds planted and put them in a mini-slideshow. Take a look!

So, even though it would've been great to go on a hike, it was nice to just relax and get away. Simply being outside at the cabin or driving around with the windows down on a sunny, mid 80s day in Central Oregon is wonderful. Phil and his family are heading over there next weekend and he's really looking forward to it. My family and I are going camping next weekend ourselves at Taylor Park, where my Grandparents have had a spot for many years now. Should be good and relaxing once again--sitting around the campfire and around the table playing games. Fun stuff.

Anyway, tonight Phil came over 'cause I was giving him a ride to his parents' house to pick up the car he would be driving over to the cabin this weekend. This was the first time he had seen any of my gardening efforts (at least in person). I was hoping to get another bed built or set, but since I didn't get started on things until about 8, I decided just to do what I could. So, I transplanted my Thyme into larger pots and started a couple more plants inside.

• Basil, Thai - 8 seeds
• Cucumber, Early Fortune - 4 seeds

The rest of the seeds I have are ones that ought to be sown directly into the beds outdoors, so I will have to get those beds built before I can do much more. Being out of town on the weekends makes that tough, but it's worth it to relax and hang out with friends and family.

So, I got the last wheelbarrow of soil into the bed right at dusk, cleaned everything up and headed in for the night, where I stayed up until 3:00am obsessing over what to plant in the bed and how to lay it all out. I was trying to think about which plants would go well together and came up with a layout involving 48 onions, two tomato plants and about four square feet of carrots. I read that onions and carrots like to be near each other and both enjoy the partial shade in the heat of the summer provided by the tall tomato plants. I was pretty happy with my plan, if a little worried that I was crowding the tomatoes a bit, but with that I went to sleep.

In the morning, well... afternoon, when I got outside to get to work I saw just how many onions I really had bought, and decided to scrap my plan and plant a lot more onions. That was maybe a dumb idea, but I couldn't stand to waste all the onions I got. So, I ended up planting four rows of each type that I got, which turned out to be 114 onions! Yeah, that's a lot for a backyard garden. But I guess we'll just have lots to give away.  :)  In the remaining space I decided to transplant the first lettuce seedlings I started along with a little section where I sowed a smattering of carrot seeds.

I finished it all off by making signs for the things I planted with some shims my dad had in the garage that were just the right size and shape. The weather was crazy that day, and shortly after I finished up in the rain a fairly intense (if short) storm blew in complete with thunder and really strong winds. So, I didn't really need to water anything! The plants weathered the storm beautifully, and I was very pleased looking out and seeing my first bed planted with things I could actually see above the soil.  :)

Anyway, so I drew out the layout to scale and figured out that I could get 32 seed potato pieces in the four by six foot bed, and that worked out great because I had 34 available. While I was doing that my dad was trying to figure out some technical stuff of his own for a job he was doing on Saturday. When both of us finished our thinking and drawing I showed my dad the layout and we talked about how to actually implement it in the bed. He suggested putting marks on the long sides of the beds where each row would go (7 3/4 inches apart) and then putting marks 4 1/2 inches apart on a board that I could slide across to line up with each row mark. That's what I ended up doing and it worked wonderfully. I tied a piece of potato on a length of twine to use as a plumb bob and used that and the marked board to place each potato where it was supposed to go. I'm sure you all think I'm crazy being so exact on this, but that's just how I think, and it's easier for me if I can do it by some formula rather than just guessing.

So, on Saturday I got out the shovel and the level and set the beginnings of the raised bed to where it was more or less level. Then I added a two by four on top all the way around to make it about thirteen inches high all together. Then I mixed some of my clay soil with a lot of the composted horse manure that I got from our family friends Randy and Kathy Arn a couple of weeks ago and filled the bed to about four inches deep or so. That was all I had time for that day, and I wanted to give the potatoes one more day to scab over, so I actually did the planting on Sunday. After putting the potatoes where they were supposed to go and taking some pictures, I covered them with four to six inches or so of the same clay soil and composted horse manure mixture I put in the day before. It was a pretty fun experience and the weather was great for it. Next up, hopefully onions and carrots!

I guess I'm happy to say that this post is only about a week late--usually it's more like six months late.  ;)   So, the Sunday before last I started some more seeds, some new ones and others that I had already started. I'm especially excited about the Lao Green Stripe Eggplant and the Napoleon Sweet Peppers--I hope they will actually grow in this climate. So, here is what I started:

• Broccoli, Di Cicco - 8 seeds
• Eggplant, Lao Green Stripe - 8 seeds
• Kale, Lacinto - 8 seeds
• Lettuce, Rouge D' Hiver - 8 seeds
• Lettuce, Tango - 8 seeds
• Pepper, Early Jalapeņo - 8 seeds
• Pepper, Napoleon Sweet - 8 seeds
• Pepper, Thai Hot - 12 seeds

I started a few extra thai hot peppers, not because I really wanted twelve plants but because the seeds I used were some that my friend Hillary saved from some peppers that she and I got at the Lily Market and we're not sure if they will actually germinate. That and I had four extra spots in the tray. :)

So, that was Sunday the 12th. The next day my dad said he could help me start building my raised beds after work, so I came home earlier than usual and we ( mostly he ) put together the beginnings of three of them using boards we had sitting around. We only had enough material for three of the four, and for those not quite enough to make them as tall as I wanted. But it was definitely a great start, and free is a very good price.

My plan is to find or if necessary buy some more wood to build the fourth bed and to increase the height of the ones we started. I'd like them all to be at least a foot tall. I've been looking around on craigslist for free wood, and there are always a ton of posts, but by the time I call or Email it's always already gone.  :(  So, if any of you have any 2x4s, 2x6s, two by anything that you want to get rid of, let me know!

So, about a week later, this past Sunday--the first semi-dry day since my early morning planning session--I went out with some stakes and twine and marked out what I had drawn. Almost to my surprise the layout fit as it did on paper (my initial measurements were pretty rough). I saw that I could make a couple of the beds larger, but I think this will be more than enough space, especially since this is my first time ever trying to grow anything!

After staking out the beds, I had decided that I wanted to try to double-dig--a term and procedure that the aforementioned book recommended--one of the beds, and at the same time mix in sand and compost to improve the soil I had to work with. It's all clay back there. Well, I had been warned by my friend Hillary, her brother, and my Dad that the clay probably wasn't going to work... but I really wanted to try, and thought I could make it work by adding to it the components that it lacked. Well, I was proved wrong. The clay was ridiculously wet and I could see quickly how impossible it would be to do anything with it. I came away from my failed attempt pretty discouraged. I'm pretty broke at the moment and was trying to avoid having to buy all the materials to build and compost to fill raised beds, but now I know that is what I will need to do. I just need to get creative and find ways to do it as cheaply as possible. It'll be a good challenge.  :)

So, in happier news, the above is a photo of my first seedlings taken on Sunday, a week after I started them. I was amazed on Wednesday morning when I saw green popping up from the soil. I totally didn't expect them to germinate so quickly. The main ones you're seeing here are the broccoli, but the lettuce and kale also showed themselves about the same time. I'm hoping to start a few more seeds soon, but for now I'm enjoying watching these guys grow. It's pretty amazing stuff.

For a couple of years now I have wanted to grow my own vegetables. I've never really grown anything before, aside from planting a tree in our back yard when I was very young. Anyway, a while ago my friend Hillary moved down to Woodland, WA to her grandma's property--where she has quite a bit of land--for the purpose of starting a small farm. Last year she brought our family tons of wonderful fresh veggies along with tasty food she made using them. It was incredible. I got to go up there a few times and see her garden and I have been asking her a lot of questions.

So now the time has come for getting my own garden ready, and I am finally going for it. Hillary has been a great help, and is probably starting to get annoyed by all my questions, though she tells me she's not...yet.  ;) She pointed me toward a few companies where I could buy good organically grown seeds, and a few weeks ago I ordered them. I think I'm a little on the late side, but not terribly bad. Anyway, I sent Hillary a list of all the things I had seeds for and wanted to plant and she let me know which ones I should start right away. That's what I did this past Sunday.

Our house right now is in the middle of a big addition / remodeling project, and there are a couple of unfinished bedrooms upstairs, one of which has a giant window that lets in lots of light. So, I decided to start my seeds up there. Hillary gave me some seed starting trays, I got a folding table from the garage and borrowed these black wireframe racks from my friend Phil to allow the water to be able to drain out of the trays as necessary.

So, with all that and some Black Gold Potting Soil I picked up from People's Food Coop I got the following seeds started on 3/22/2009.

• Broccoli, Di Cicco - 8 seeds
• Kale, Lacinto - 8 seeds
• Lettuce, Rouge D' Hiver - 8 seeds
• Lettuce, Tango - 8 seeds
• Rosemary - 8 seeds
• Tomato, Blondkopfchen - 4 seeds
• Tomato, Japanese Black Trifele - 4 seeds
• Tomato, Manitoba - 4 seeds
• Thyme - 8 seeds

Since then I've done a little more planning, and I think I need to start more lettuce, perhaps, but I've still got a little more reading to do. So, now it's up to me to water the seeds and up to God to make them grow. I'm excited.

Last August my friend Sam and I went on a hike on a section of the Tillamook Railroad. I guess he has done quite a bit of hiking on railroad tracks before, but this was a new experience for me. It turned out to be particularly interesting that we went when we did because there had been a huge storm in the area earlier in the year which, unbeknownst to us, had damaged the line so severely that it was clearly not usable. So, the trip afforded an opportunity for me to learn a lot about various aspects of railroads--from Sam and from all the things we saw--and I got to see and take photos of the aftermath of a fierce battle between nature and human engineering. It was pretty neat.

I do feel it appropriate to add a little disclaimer, which I also posted on the intro of the slideshow: As I was looking up information about the storm damage I noticed a statement on the Tillamook Railroad website that the tracks are closed to unauthorized use and that they will prosecute violators for criminal trespass. Also, as is obvious, walking on active railroad tracks, especially on trestles and in tunnels could be extremely dangerous, so I am not recommending it. So, with that said, check out my photos from the trip and experience the hike vicariously. Hope you enjoy them.