Good Doug

I've decided that I'm going to really put some love into my garden this year. We were a little distracted last summer, and the gophers went nutso on my tomatoes... so I didn't get the yield I really wanted. This year, I aim higher.

Last year it was the gophers that did me in. I started and planted almost twenty tomato plants only to see them disappear one by one down gopher holes over the course of one week. They left me one lonely tomato plant. I was heartbroken. In my heart, I finally understood Carl Spackler's pain, as it was now my own. The next weekend, I picked up a gopher elimination kit from Gophers Ltd. The suckers must have seen me coming (or they had gotten their fill and moved on) and disappeared before I could bring out the traps. After they had decimated my crops, I added some broccoli, peppers and zucchini, but my heart just wasn't in it. I had some peppers I really wanted to work, but only got a few small peppers from all eight plants I had in the ground.

This year, I've started over one hundred tomato plants, and they are doing really well now in their rosepots, waiting for May to go into the ground. I've already trapped two of the three gophers I believe are in my yard and sent them to gopher heaven... or limbo, I'm not really sure what their spiritual status was. I have amended and turned the soil in the garden beds, using chicken manure from my own chickens. I've planted and am tending beets, lettuce, bok choy, purple cauliflower, raddichio, spinach, beans and several types of cabbage I plan on harvesting later spring. I still have my sage, chives, thyme, rosemary, oregano and mint from years past growing well, and have some parsley and basil growing very well in a pot. I hope to start some cilantro as well.

I'm going to try and order some potatoes this year and try growing them in sacks if I get a spare moment. I might throw in some zucchini once the beets are grown, as that always makes for a great dinner. I'm also looking at making a couple of garden beds for the front yard where i can start growing dahlias, as they are supposed to do really well here.

I have a positive outlook this year, especially now I know how to manage the gophers.