Little gophers...you are the BANE of my existence!

Got gophers? I DO!

My dad said there are two choices....first of all, let me tell you my idea of how to handle this, in my little-girl-rainbows-and-smiles world...

We stand by the holes, wait until the poke their little heads out, pick them up and toss them into the neighbors yard. Yes?

No.

My dads two options are..."we put poison in the hole, they eat it, die and decompose"....or..."we run water down there, they pop out and we hit them with a shovel".

Perfect.

Uuugh

I am smart....most of the time. Not today!

So, I dug out the sides of the L-shape and wanted to dig toward the other side to complete the outline of the garden....one BIG problem. I grabbed the end of the tarp all the grass I had dug up was on...leaned back and pulled. Nothing. Why couldn't I move it? Because I am not the strongest girl in the world. HA!

Someone needs to move this big pile of earth out of my way!

DAAAD!

"Rain"

Well, it sprinkled a little bit today (technically yesterday...), southern California weather can be BRUTAL! So, I'll just say that I didn't do anything with the garden today because it was "raining".

Ohhh the weather outside is weather....(Forgetting Sarah Marshall reference?...anyone?)

Diggin' ditches....literally

We have officially broken ground on the BYOG!!
Started digging the outline of the garden tonight, looks good, if I do say so myself...woopwoop!

Progress already? Oh yes.

"The core of mans' spirit comes from new experiences" - Christopher McCandless

I'm starting out small with my "new experiences"....I have never, no, not once, dug out a bush/little tree. Today I did.

Before....

Down and dirty....

Poor weird little bush....

One survivor! I'm going to need these little guys...gardeners best friend.

....Aaaand after! Tadaaaa!

The beginning is looking pretty good! Pretty excited....

Next: dig dig dig out that grass!

BYOG: BackYard Organic Gardening Project: Day 1....

The location...

Southern California, my backyard, middle of February.

The contender...

23 year old novice (very, very novice) gardener looking to change the world with one sustainable backyard garden at a time.

Let it begin!

Last week I started reading the copy of The Gardener's A-Z Guide to Growing Organic Food by Denckla (amazing book, I really recommend it) that I bought my mom 2 years ago, and halfway through the preface I was so ready to grow organic food. I love to eat organic, but I don't love the prices and I also don't love that the closest Trader Joes is 25 miles away from my house, bummer. So I'm giving it a go in my own backyard; a completely organic garden.

Nervous.

Step one: digging up that weird bush/tree in the foreground that hasn't grown or changed, at all, in the 3 years we've lived here. I don't even know what it is! So it has to go first. Then, time to dig up the grass in front of the wall, that is where the garden will be, eventually. Then build a little wooden barrier around the area, and then...PLANT.

Ready to get dirty?