Positive Focus - Summer in the Garden - Week 1

I know it's not summer - yet.

And I know for some people there is still snow on the ground.

But I want to try something a bit different starting this summer.

First off, I love what I call 'Year in...' books. 

It can be places, like Tuscany or Provence. It can be a year on a garlic farm or a year of solitude or almost a year hiking the Appalachian Trail. 

So while I will continue (maybe) a bit of a garden update with my 'Seedy Saturday', I want to go a bit deeper into my feelings and thoughts about the garden and all the 'stuff' which goes along with being a gardener and trying to live my best life.

I view this as a glimpse into creating my own 'Garden of Eden'. But I am going to embrace eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge as I will be learning what works for me and what doesn't. What gives me pleasure and what brings me down. The new tricks and techniques I might learn along the way. The new-to-me fruits, vegetables and flowers and how I feel about them. Friends I make along the way of this journey to creating my Eden. 

So let us get started! 

Week 1 - April 1, 2023

Seedlings have been growing inside for months now. So much so, my house is a disaster inside. But since I rarely have anyone over, it doesn't bother me enough to change it. But the seedlings are all outside now. Some in the yard where they will be protected from the afternoon sun. Some still on the porch. 

Not everything grew as well as I would have liked. I have lost several tomatoes due to repotting them too soon, I think. A few others due to not watering the trays as well as I should have. For the most part though, I will count them as a success.

The main plant I started in late December was my buddleia bushes. I need several to go along the front of the yard. Especially now that I have a lot of retaining wall blocks so I can create more of a 'ledge' and build up where they are going to be planted along the front fence. There is a note in my planner to buy some sweet alyssum, or something like it, to be low and creeping, spilling over the blocks. Maybe some creeping thyme even. 

But what I am actually feeling at this moment in time is a combination of gleeful anticipation and overwhelming dread.

I have this picture of what I want in my mind in the long run. My 'logical' brain tells me I can achieve it, but it isn't going to happen overnight. That part of the brain also tells me how much work I have to do to get there.

Right now, there is a push to get 500 square feet of garden for my vegetables ready to plant. There are garden arches I want to construct out of some fencing I have bought. I need at least a temporary fence up around the garden to keep the dogs from running through everything. 

I am going to go with a 'no-dig' garden, which is totally opposite of the gardening methods I grew up seeing practiced by my family and using myself. However, I do understand how much more beneficial it is in the long run and how it is less effort. Especially once established, the intensive planting and careful cultivation will eliminate weeds. But probably not this summer!

Since I want to expand my food selection, I am growing some vegetables I normally don't eat. I am going to put on my big girl panties and give various squashes, especially winter squashes, a try. After all, growing up, the way squash and similar vegetables were prepared were not always that appetizing to me. By 'not appetizing' I mean, like choke and gag trying to down that mouthful I was forced to eat.

One example I can think of immediately is beets.

For one thing, beets were something we rarely saw on the table growing up. And what was served was usually pickled beets. Frankly, you couldn't force past my lips.

This year I have sown a short row of beets.

Yep, I voluntarily sowed beets.

I sowed them pretty thickly and will thin them out and use the tops in my salads (I need to eat more salads) while allowing the rest to mature. Am I going to eat them? Probably not. Well, I might try roast one with some carrots and potatoes. But my plan is to juice them. I've had beet juice in a fruit drink before and it was good. Apple and beet juice combined are pretty darn good.

To combat the feeling of being overwhelmed by everything which needs to be done in the next couple of weeks, I have a LIST! The balm for my brain - lists! 

And as far as the 518 bricks and 63 retaining wall stones...those are on the back burner. They are definitely not going anywhere. And sitting in my yard isn't hurting anything. I do have them scheduled to be worked on after the garden is in and the flats of seedlings in the ground. Plus the 3 plants sales I have to work are over.

But before I can make progress in my own yard, I have several buckets of plants which were dug up from a decades old garden. They need to be potted up and labeled for the Master Gardener plant sale the first part of May. 

I was fortunate enough to help four Master Gardeners collect plants from a nearby Master Gardener - who is in her early 80's. Her garden, on 8 lush acres, was brimming with all sorts of goodies. Now I have iris, ajuga, day lilies, crinum, an unknown plant which is supposed to have pink flowers and lenten rose to be potted up for the upcoming sale. A few of these are for my garden too! 

Luckily, Saturday is supposed to be rainy, so they will stay nice and hydrated until I can get to the repotting on Sunday. If I don't get my kitchen cleared of the two tables and the lights where the seedlings grew - and cleaned up in general - I will be too stressed out to do anything. Plus I have work in the afternoon. 

Next week will be interesting. 

It's Spring Break for Lady K and we have a couple of days where we will be away most of the day. One to the beach, the other to Raleigh. But it still leaves me with two days here at home. With a long list of gardening chores. I hope there will be real progress on getting the vegetable garden set up. And the front flower beds planted with seedlings. 

I really need to move forward on the yard, if for no other reason than to get all the ideas bouncing around in my brain out of there. Dog-proofing areas are on the forefront. Which means stakes and chicken wire. 

I hope you will enjoy this journey in my garden with me.