Garden 2019
A garden is the kind of hope that takes work. I have to make a space, clear the ground, prepare. Then, when the conditions are right, I plant the seeds. If I did nothing else some of the seeds would sprout and of the seeds that sprouted some of them would live long enough to bear fruit. But that’s a half-assed kind of hope; you can’t prepare the ground, stick in the seeds and walk away. You need to keep working, nurturing the seeds, and then the sprouts, the plants as they grow and flower and fruit. The act of nurturing also keeps hope alive.
Even with all the nurturing there are disappointments along the way. Heat, hail and torrential rain, bugs or other critters—so much out of my control. These things can kill a plant or steal your fruit and make you wonder why you even bother. It’s hard work and takes so much time and energy, what’s the point of growing a garden if something might ruin it?
But if you don’t let the setbacks kill your hope, eventually you will have a harvest. It doesn’t matter if it is large or small. The day you make a salad from greens, peas, radishes and flowers you just picked from the garden you nurtured is a day for celebration. That salad is the best salad you will have ever eaten. The green beans you pick and eat while standing in the middle of the garden will be the most amazing green beans you have ever tasted. The ripe tomato you ate on the way to the house because you couldn’t wait until you got inside will be the juiciest one you have ever had.
Sunshine in your hand. Sunshine in your mouth. Sunshine in your belly.
Hope beneath your feet. Hope in your fingers. Hope in your heart.
Who knew a small envelope could hold so much?
In case you are interested in what seeds are in the envelope:
- Astro arugula
- Pinto bush beans
- Oxheart carrots
- Parisian carrot
- Easter egg radish
- Babybeat beets
- Cocozelle zucchini
- Lettuce seed mix
- Lady slipper radish
- Miners lettuce
- Calendula
- Scarlet kale
- sweet pea mammoth mix
- Bachelors button
- Zinnia carousel mix
- Pink lipstick Swiss chard
- Great northern white beans
I planted two kinds of hardneck garlic already in early October. In April I will have six pounds of three different potato varieties (two pounds of each variety) delivered for planting. I have seeds saved from last year’s garden—marigolds, sunflowers, pumpkin, green beans, black beans, shelling peas, snap peas and cowpeas. In addition there are perennial onions, herbs and vegetables, fruit trees and berry bushes. When the big plant sale comes around in May there will be a tomato plant or two, and I have a short list of a few things I have never grown before that I want to try. But more on that come spring.
So much hope.
Pink lipstick swiss chard? I have to see that! What joy in the mail for you and so much fun to look forward to when things are growing and imagining what they will taste like, etc!
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Iliana, it sounds fancy doesn’t it? The leaves are green with bright pink stems and veins. Definitely lots to look forward to come spring!
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Yes, gardeners are the most hopeful people on the planet, and seeds in December means spring is just around the corner. I have never attempted to grow either pinto beans or great northerns, though I love them both. I am inordinately fond of bachelor’s buttons.
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Jane, I wish spring were just around the corner! I won’t be able to plant any of these seeds until late April at the earliest. I have not grown pinto or great northern beans before either, this will be my first attempt. We love both at my house so it only made sense to try and grow some of our own. I haven’t had bachelor’s buttons in the garden in a while. They are wonderful little flowers and edible which makes them even more fun!
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Love the idea of a hope of spring arriving in the middle of winter. Makes you feel that yes there will be bright days coming back …..
Your list of seeds has given me a great idea for a Christmas gift for my brother in law. He’s always a tough one to buy for but he does like to experiment with plants so I think I might put a box together with some seed selections……
Thanks for coming to my rescue!
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BookerTalk, it is a nice thing though it doesn’t make waiting for spring any easier! Seeds are a great idea for a Christmas gift! Glad I could help out 🙂
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I just bought something called wildflower seed balls – my husband is keen to grow a wildflower meadow but all his previous attempts have failed. I’m told these are foolproof…..
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Oh nice! Have not tried seed balls so I can’t see anything about them. I hope you have great success with them! If you do finally have a wildflower meadow you must share a photo 🙂
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I would like to book a dinner at your house next August for my birthday! What a glorious feast it would be! I’m lucky in that I’ve grown or had access to fresh vegetables and fruits for much of my life. That makes me the produce department’s worst nightmare. I know what fresh produce is supposed to look like and taste like. Even some of those ‘local, freshly picked’ bins don’t meet my standards. Floppy green beans? Green tinged potatoes? How dare they! Growing your own food is the best. And, yes, I hope that we manage to do that next year at our new house.
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LOL Joan! You are more than welcome to come by! I know what you mean about the produce department. It gets hard in Minnesota this time of year though when there isn’t much in the way of fresh local veg other than potatoes, apples and winter squash. One day I will figure out how to use grow tunnels and all that for an extended growing season.
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Oh I love this post! I am going to look up some of your seed types. I planted some garlic in October too, for the first time. And also milkweed for the first time, trying to help the butterflies! I am going to get serious about greens this coming year – what with all the scares with conventionally grown lettuce.
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Laila, hooray for garlic and milkweed! Picking greens fresh is amazing. It tastes so much better than when you buy at the store and it is much safer! How did you corn turn out? And wasn’t there a random squash your son planted that grew?
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The corn was a bust! I don’t know what happened. It grew to about knee high and then quit. I mean, the stalks the squirrels didn’t get! Oh well. The squash plant produced some yummy yellow squash! And it was the only squash plant that did much of anything.
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Well drat! That’s too bad about the corn. I am glad you got a nice squash though. Did you save some seeds for next year? Heh, I am very familiar with how sometimes the things I plant don’t do as well as the things that planted themselves. 🙂
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love this! I feel like seed catalogs are so hopeful and cheerful, even if I don’t order anything I love to look through them. We are planning a simple garden next year but it’s fun to plan!
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Yes! I love looking through them even if I don’t order anything and knowing that all the photos are photoshopped and most of the plants aren’t hardy in my zone. It’s fun to imagine 🙂 Even simple gardens take work. Can’t wait to hear and see what you do!
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