Garden Adventures
All of the recent talk of food supply issues fuels my survival instincts. I like to imagine how I would cope in emergency situations. Maybe it was the wilderness camping experiences early in my life that taught me how to double down and make good use of available resources. Does this make me a bit odd?
Anyway, this year I am attempting a garden…again. You know just in case we can’t buy food from the store shelves as we are used to. Gardening does not come easily to me and I just need to keep at it. I have learned far more from failure than success. My husband helps me and together, we have had good success with green beans and fair success with tomatoes, but those peas…
This will be our third year attempting to grow peas. I can never get the timing right. They begin to produce just as it gets summer warm and they are not happy with summer temps. Enter egg cartons and potting soil. Yes, I did what so many gardening sites tell me not to do. I started my peas indoors and transplanted them - all 46 of them. Clearly it will not be a large crop, but for now, I will be happy with success over quantity.
The photo above shows them about an hour after planting. The garden is not ready for much yet, but those peas are in the ground - and planting them took some real patience. I added a few un-sprouted peas at the end of the rows, just for comparison. We will see how they grow.
When it warms up more I will be able to plant the herbs and vegetables that are most familiar to me! I really do love this time of year. Being out in the sun and dirt before the mosquitos arrive in full force is very satisfying, even as my muscles remind me that I left them get pretty out of shape over the winter. Gardening is good exercise!
As I close this rather rambly jumble, I really do want to encourage you to try growing something this year, even and especially if you never have before. Start small is my suggestion. Container gardens are great for small spaces. But please do give it a try. That survivalist in me believes we may wish we could do this well before all is said and done. Let’s learn a little before we really must have a garden.
I would love to hear how your garden grows. Share with me at middleroselife@gmail.com. Sign up to receive musings once a month!
Happy Gardening!