Thursday, March 18, 2010

Gardening Through Phoenix (Cross Training)

Just finished Pollan's In Defense of Food. Nothing really new, but good reinforcement. Each year, we try to plant a garden, but our plot has been woefully small. So this year we decided to sacrifice some yard space and plant a farm! (Just this one post and then I'll start a new blog). I ran to The Big Orange Home Despot (hey, a running reference!!) and spent about $50 on bricks and shitty (literally) dirt.

Maria and I spent about ten minutes with shovels, realized that we would finish in time for the next Superbowl, so it was off to A to Z rentals for a gas powered roto-tiller ("Of course I know how to work it", the slow runner said to the A to Z man) Got it home and spent 1/2 hour trying to figure it out.

Engines on and up came the grass, dirt, some Indian burial stuff.... the usual.

Mixed in some cow poop, got it leveled and decided to roto-tiller some other areas of the lawn while Mrs. G was not looking. My three hours were almost up so I returned it and got busy with the bricks.

We have canal irrigation so we need to block the floods that come every two weeks or our little patch will get washed away to Casa Grande.

Tomorrow is the bird screen and overhead sunscreen, and if all goes well, the first planting of TOMATOES!!

Tomorrow is also a 14 mile run. Plenty of gu and a Stick from Runner's Den, and a hope and a prayer. My itb on the left side gave me a really hard time on Tuesday's 7 miler. Hmmmmm. Marathon?

7 comments:

The Boring Runner said...

Wait, canal irrigation? Where are all of the severed arms and used condoms in your yard...never mind what the canal puts in there! (how DOES that work - seriously?)

I would LOVE to put in a garden (my farmer roots showing through), but I don't have a "good" spot to put it. I just need to MAKE a spot.

Careful with all of the yard work. I did a bit of a make over with my yard, ran some intervals, and than ran a 20 miler and gave my self a stress fracture :)

http://www.theboringrunner.com/2009/09/what-i-did-on-my-vacation-mixed-with.html

http://www.theboringrunner.com/2009/09/landscapers-challenge.html

RunningLaur said...

I've been desperate to start a garden, but having a 4'x6' paved patio space doesn't really cut it.
See you in the morning!

Anonymous said...

That is super cool! We'd been wanting to start a garden for years...but just haven't done it yet. Good luck with the tomatoes!

Lisa said...

I love that you're going to have your own garden! My sister and her husband have one in MN and I am jealous of all they can grow! It's amazing what they put on their dinner table from their backyard!

Thanks for stopping by my blog! There are a lot of great routes in Central Park to run that won't get you lost! Go here http://www.centralpark.com/usr/maps/CentralParkRunningMap.pdf to get a great map! I run in the park all summer long, mornings are definitely best in July!

Pat said...

great article about AZ gardening in todays paper. Looks like you need to invite Adam, Rio and Laur over for a gardening party. You won't have to rent a tiller next time.

NY Wolve said...

That is some garden! Makes us NYers jealous. Sort of. I just rwad Pollan's book Food Rules. Liked it, but not much to it. Wife is reading in defense of food.

rgalprelives said...

Love it! We are getting close to starting the garden as well. Looking for some decent plans to build some raised beds.

Your garden area looks great.