Okay, so last year, I planted a garden with much fanfare and anticipation. I got sproutlings!
And then not much more.
The onions were little mini onions. I also grew four tiny fennel plants, big enough for Lucy's Elmo doll! If he were to eat fennel!
Also the tomato plants, which I planted from seedlings. From those I got about ten tomatoes. Of which, more than half were eaten by possums.
And one strawberry (or two!) every couple weeks.
Let's not talk about how much I spent on compost/plant material/etc. It wasn't a ton, but for twelve strawberries and two tomatoes, it was Too Much.
Lessons learned: there is no "really sunny spot" in my yard, okay? There just isn't. The plants, they'll sprout, but they're just not going to go crazy.
But! I think my garden may be redeeming itself.
Exhibit A. The thyme plant that looked emaciated and mite-ridden all last summer? It has decided to stay, even after my terrible watering habits over the winter!
Exhibit B. Those strawberry plants? They, too, look fat and bushy after a whole year's growing. Yay for perennials!
Exhibit C. The kicker! I invested in heirloom tomatoes last year, which caused me to kick myself when they proved to be less-than-hardy and half-eaten by rodents. (Marsupials? What the heck are possums, anyway?) But! Today I looked around the base of my garden, and there were no fewer than six sprouted tomato plants from seeds that fell from my lost fruit last year! Thanks, non-hybrid plants! And I didn't even have to do anything to get them to come up from seed. Plus, they're heirlooms! And this time I'm going to invest in some netting/electric fencing to keep away the critters! As soon as I get around to it.
In honor of my garden, today I bought a few basil plants, a few more strawberry plants, and a mint plant*. Now I'm going to plant them all and lean back and enjoy my kitchen garden. Which has resurrected itself just in time for Easter.
* Of course, one shouldn't be too cocky. Proof of a less-than-green thumb: I have managed to kill about three mint plants. These are plants that are supposed to be indestructible. Hmmm.
2 comments:
When harvest time rolls around, you can come over and pick what you like. I just keep planting and I realized yesterday that we will be able to feed a small country later in the summer. As long as they like tomatoes, cukes, squash, zucchini, spinach, lettuce, uh you get the idea. I still have a couple of beds unplanted. Hmmm.
See, now you're making me feel inadequate. Though I must say, it seems like there are two poles in gardening: the "plant enough for Eritrea" and "plant, but only enough for the woodland creatures."
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