The seedlings are here...

*please note that this blog was originally posted on my other blog on July 18th, 2011*

So I planted and planted and planted. I did companion planting and placed some in the same hole and even layered and layered the seed. Now everything is coming up. Everything! Some parts of the yard are just overflowing with the potential for life. I had so many squash, bean and corn plants come up that I had to transfer a ton of them to parts of the yard not originally intended for planting. I really don't mind though, the more the merrier!
Why would you plant so many seeds you may ask... well, I planted so many seeds because the dirt needs some love, and frankly we need more plants and insects in our yard. We need to get the soil working. Plus I firmly believe that mono-cultures, even in sections of your own garden, are not healthy for the plants or the eco-system. There is no where in the natural world that has just one plant or animal species living there, to do so would be pure eco-system suicide. If the right predator or disease comes along the entire system is toast. Mono-culture creates pest and disease problems and depletes the soil. Inter-planting is the key, or at least that's what seems the most obvious to me.
I know where most everything I planted is. I have to say most everything because although I drew pretty detailed maps and diagrams of the garden planting areas, there was one day I did a ton of planting and forgot to record it the same day. I remembered that I hadn't written it down a day or so later but by then it was too late, I had forgotten the placement of quite a few of the seeds. This is part of what makes it so exciting that the seedlings are popping up, I finally get to see what I planted and where. I have been quite surprised at who the first to arrive are and I hope to see some of the seeds whom may take quite a bit longer to germinate.
What about water? Isn't all that planting using up a lot of water? Actually not only does it use quite a bit less than it would if I were growing grass in that space but since we are encouraging a perma-culture and allowing natural leaf litter and ground covers to grow we are losing much less water from the soil than if it was just open soil between all the plants. This summer has also been quite stormy with quite a few weeks of very intense afternoon thunder/lightening and rain storms so nature has been watering for us. Every year that goes by the garden will need less and less human watering and be able to rely on the natural water cycles. There is no one watering the plants in nature and they do just fine.
Every day I go outside several times and check on all the growth. I talk to the plants, encourage them and inspect them for damage. I am also studying them. I would like to be able to recognize all of the plants just by their seedlings. I'm starting to know them all, as of now the squash are still pretty hard to tell apart but I'm sure that in another week or two everything will be much more clear.