It is about time to get my peas and other early cool season crops in. But I’m not there yet. Today I sat down and started planning. Reading blogs has actually made me a more ambitious gardener. It also might be that I’m out of school, and have a desire to stay completely involved with horticulture. I also have plenty of opportunity this year. Whatever it is, I have plans for the largest vegetable garden I have ever grown, with the most varieties of plants.
I talked to a couple of grandparents in my neighborhood who are offering half their garden to me. I’m starting to enjoy this couple: they remind me of my own grandparents and are very active for being in their 80’s. The garden plot adds another 400 sq feet to my existing 200 sq feet on the condo grounds. I’m starting to realize I could plant even more. Maybe I’ll start a farm someday, but for now the “lack” of space is good. I’m going to be plenty busy with the vegetable gardens, condo landscape, and other landscapes projects that come my way. But busy in a very, very good way.
Lots of good plants this year: leeks are my complete trial crop that I have no experience with growing or cooking. I’ve got the standard tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cucs and whatever else seeds I have left over from past year. I do want to get a crop of cool season vegetables. It’s difficult here because it tends to get hot quickly, and the soil takes a while to be workable (or at least workable at my convince). I started to dig around and found out the condo plot is a small layer of topsoil over gravel. I think it will be workable, with a good layer of compost. There was also a spot of topsoil over asphalt. It amazes me that lawn can grow with such shallow soil. Up at USU, they have a huge exercise field they planted over an old parking lot, without removing the parking lot. It does save on money during installation, but my guess is there might be trouble down the road.
And by the way, I need to buy a lawn mower. Any suggestions? I have about an acre of lawn, plenty of obstacles, no hills.
Liz Braithwaite 
I bought a Honda lawn mower last year from Home Depot. Somewhat expensive for a push mower ($650), but starts on one pull every time. It has a resin deck so it won’t rust and shouldn’t bend, which was an issue with my old mower.
My recommendation: buy the mower with the largest engine you can afford. Smaller engines will get overworked for their size. My last mower was a 3-in-1 Murray purchased from Wal-Mart, with a 6HP Briggs & Stratton engine. I finally sold it on KSL.com as it wasn’t mulching the way it used to, presumably due to the damage the deck suffered over 11-12 seasons.
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