The Bucket Garden!!!

 Spring is officially in full-swing! I have survived a week of Spring Break and my unhappy campers are getting booted back into school tomorrow. I’m excited and kind of sad about their going back. No, I am definitely NOT one of those moms that wants my kids to never leave the house. The reason I’m somewhat sad about their going back to school is because summer break is going to be here soon. Then they're here for 3 months!!!

Of all the things in the world I’ve wanted to be, an organized mom that has structured events for my kids during the school break is one of them! I have to agree with an article I read earlier, I think it looks like raising a child in the 80’s would have been much easier than it is currently. Don’t mistake what I am saying here. My mom had a hard job, she was a single parent and she worked her butt off for everything we ever had. That amazing woman even went without things if we needed or sometimes just wanted something. I had no idea the things she gave up for my sister and I until I was older. I don’t know how she did it all. Selfless was definitely a big descriptor for her actions. I love her, wouldn’t trade her for anything. I routinely call her in tears when the kids have pushed me past my limits apologizing through thick tears because I know I had to have been a monster to her at times. She just laughs and says it will be over soon. I hope so! 

They got to stand on the field at Busch Stadium and sit in the Cardinals dugout. They can put down electronics for something like this, but go play outside hasn't won out, yet. 

But raising a kid in the 80’s didn’t have the challenges that the technical advancements now present us with. My son simply can not comprehend why he is ever forced to watch commercials. He is constantly asking for the remote, I’m sure he’s thinking mom’s lost it and forgot to fast forward commercials, when the program does not move forward, he tells me it’s broken and he pouts.

When I was 5, I was excited about watching tv! Most of the time it didn’t even matter what it was. This will explain why I had a very good grasp on who Phil Donahue, Sally Jesse, Jenny Jones and Geraldo were. I wasn’t allowed to watch their shows, but I remember just being excited to watch tv! The commercials were always so fun, too. Well, a 5 year old thought they were. I remember doing the ‘Where’s The Beef?’ joke every time I went to McDonald’s, (They were less than amused). But it was part of my childhood, either watching what was on tv or going outside to play because we had maybe 3 channels. My kids have everything electronic there could be to occupy their time and it does. But we also lose a lot of one on one time, they don't play outside, build forts for hot wheels and GI Joes to fight, I used to build up farms when I played in grandma and grandpoppy's driveway. I wanted to be a farmer like him!  

 When I would spend the night with my grandparents they used to watch a station I still refuse to watch news on because I cannot think of anything other than the fact that it made me feel dusty. This is how mom's garden made me feel too. The noon anchor was a fairly old guy and my grandparents had it on any time I was there. 

They lived on a dirt road, grandpoppy was a farmer, so in their house, windows were almost always open. This means that along with the breeze, the dust from the fields and folks driving down the road would filter across a slice of sunlight near the television and I could just see the dust being deposited on everything. I never thought my grandparents were old, but I definitely considered that news station to be so old fashioned.

This is not my picture, but grandpoppy did use a Kubota and he always picked my sister or I up in the bucket. That made great memories! 

My grandpoppy would come over and till up a section of the backyard for the garden that went in every spring. I had no interest in the care of it because I didn’t really want anything from the garden when I was younger. I can just assume my  taste buds hadn’t developed yet because I have been wanting a garden for the last 14 years or so. Due to some complication or another, I never got my garden. So all the years, I could have been learning from my grandpoppy or my mom and weeding a garden with them, I did not realize the diamond mine of information they had to give me if I'd only asked. Now I can't get down to the ground and I'm learning everything on my own. But, I have the internet, so I'm not alone with all the gardening questions! Hopefully y'all will be hitting me up with some of your advice so I can have the most successful bucket-garden in NE Oklahoma! 

Now that I am in a wheelchair, I can’t get on the ground to plant and weed a garden. I still want my garden, though! I have the most amazing best-friend, she is bringing me buckets that already have a hole drilled in the bottom for me to sit on the deck and finally plant my garden. My bucket garden! I’m doing my research now on what kind of plants to get. Ideally I should have started the seeds last month inside, but I will not complain, I get a garden!!!   I’m wanting to grow some yummy green beans, new potatoes and corn, but I am not sure if any of those 3 can be grown in buckets. I have an old table that’s probably about 5x5, it was left on the porch when the former owners moved out. I kind of hung onto it now knowing what to really do, but wanting to do something with it. My idea is to build up the sides about 5-7 inches and fill with soil and use it, but this brings me back to the whole I don’t know if I can plant the three big things I want! How does baby corn grow? Is baby corn even corn? If it is, does it grow on full size stalks or on mini stalks? I need to figure this out now. I have the answer! They grow in smaller stalks that produce about 5-7 ears. How cute is that? Pictured below.

 Now, anyone that reads this, I am seeking advice. Don’t worry about thinking I know what I want to know and don’t need any opinions. That is the furthest thing from my thinking on most everything. I love a debate, I can talk sports, cars, medicine, general trivia, ooooohhh entertainment trivia is one of my deep wells of knowledge, so feel free to ask me anything and I’m definitely big enough to back down and tell you when I’m learning from you because I had it wrong. So my questions if anyone wants to take a crack at it, is what grows well in buckets, do you think my raised sides on a table will work for anything, how can I do corn and beans with a bucket or the table, and if you have tips for soil prep that goes into the buckets, and if I can still grow good new potatoes even if I’ve missed the St. Patrick’s Day deadline? Answer away please!

 My son demands tomatoes and cucumbers. He’s 5 and prefers tomatoes to candy. He loves pickles, gets mad if I eat a salad without him and steals every slice chopped piece or cherry tomato he can find. I definitely need something that will give him plenty to work with. I can’t wait for warm summer nights grilling veggies for dinner and sitting on the deck watching the stars or, on the cooler nights, lighting a fire in the fire pit. This is an excellent beginning to one of the most wonderful seasons the Lord has given us!