The Best Laid Plans

Oh, the best laid plans of mice and men...

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You are probably wondering what you're looking at. This is a picture of my grand garden-to-be on paper. My original intention was to do raised beds but, upon further consideration, I decided I am going to use self-watering containers instead. This is partly due to the fact that my spigot is halfway across the yard from this lovely garden spot and I don't want to wrestle with the hose every single day to keep my garden beautiful. Why then, do you ask, am I putting my garden halfway across the yard from my water source? Well the answer is quite simply that out of a 1/3rd acre yard, it is the only available spot that even begins to get enough sun to produce vegetables. However, I have already hatched a plan. My desire is to get a rain barrel that I can place next to this wonderful spot and then easily water my plants. Now very nice looking rain barrels cost bigger bucks than I want to spend, so I started researching "ways to make rain barrels", "cheap rain barrels", etc. etc., on Google until I was sick of looking. Now granted there are ways to make cheap rain barrels but most of them are not all that attractive, soooo...then I accessed that file way in the back of my brain about the county giving out free rain barrels to people who take their rain barrel seminar - Ha Ha! I had the answer -- sort of. So I then went to the county extension website to sign up for the class. The first three classes this year are already full, so I can't take the class until May! Who knew so many people wanted rain barrels? So meanwhile, the hose and I are going to be really close friends. Lets hope those self-watering containers do their job as well as they're supposed to. "Water once a week vs. once a day..." Well, I'm a little bit of a skeptic when it comes to trying out new products, but at the same time I do love to "buy and try" new gadgets - just take a look in my kitchen! The good news is, the really big L-shaped planter that I'm using is one we already own. It used to be right in the corner of the porch (check out my girl China):

So now we'll put it to good use I hope, as it never got any sun on the porch and everything I ever put in there died - except for the Wandering Jew, which, as we all know, grows absolutely anywhere.

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So let the fun begin!

To my husband's chagrin

With shovels in hand

for this best laid plan!