I moved to a place of my own at the beginning of last year. And while I do not own land, I also was not going to quit gardening. The opportunity to rent the plot for the garden nearby was one of the features that helped the decision-making on whether the new place would turn out to be fit for us. It also meant starting everything over since the plot was mostly bare. Apart from a few old gooseberry bushes, rhubarb, and one cherry tree, there was nothing there.
The amount of work needed was going to be challenging. However, that has never scared me, so I began planning. Shopping for seeds, greenhouse structures, pots, and tools.
Once the greenhouse was built, I began with soil preparations. Removing the sod and roots took me days of hard labor with the shovel. I injured my shoulder in the process, which slowed me down. That said, it is so satisfying to look back at these progress pictures. The greenhouse is three meters wide and six meters long.
I bought wooden planks to put together the edges of the beds. I made those myself as well. My work did not go unnoticed by the new neighbors, who turned out to be quite friendly. One of them approached me with “Now this is not a city girl, this is a countryside girl!” and I responded with “Indeed, I am.” They later gifted me some lovely flowers for the garden!
By the time I had finished my pumpkin and squash bed, the other neighbor offered help with tilling a couple of spots with the small tractor. That was a huge help and made the bed-making process quicker. It saved me a lot of time, or I would have never managed to get everything ready for this growing season. I never expected the neighbors to be so nice. It was a pleasant surprise.
As soon as the beds were ready, the flowers kept showing up! My neighbors gave me dahlias and chrysanthemums. A rose from a friend's mom. Gladioli from my grandma. More dahlias from my mom. The beds began to fill up quickly. I knew this part of the garden would turn out to be magical. And it was!
But then the time for transplanting my seedlings in the greenhouse had come. In retrospect, I should have waited for the tomato seedlings a while longer. Let them grow, maybe twice as big, since they had a slow start after transplanting. Cucumbers, however, did amazingly and doubled in size every time I saw them.
The start for the onions seemed very promising, but unfortunately, most of the development and growth eventually went into the leafy green part instead of the bulbs. The bulbs turned out much smaller than I expected. Perhaps, it was due to the hot summer we had, or I should have watered them more often. That would be my guess. I am not sure what exactly hindered the bulb development.
I thought for a long time about what would be best for the kitty. For most of her life, she lived at the family home and had a lot of freedom to roam outside. But just as much she loves the outdoors, she also craves company and pets. And for a good while, the only person to provide that was me. At the new place, she seems a lot calmer. Her demand for attention, cuddles, and sitting in my lap has only grown. Her favorite spot to sleep is my work table, next to my laptop, with her head often resting on my keyboard. It is my mission to provide her with the best care and entertainment, so playing sessions are important. I spoil her with treats and high-end food as well.
I still do not feel great about taking her freedom to roam outside from her. And while I hope she will love to come with me to the new garden someday, for now, she is still scared of everything and everyone unfamiliar.
Change is hard. My heart broke when I thought about leaving her there. And it hurts when I think about how I am taking something away from her. All I can do is shower her with love and care every day she is with me. And hope it is enough. During summertime, she might visit the family home still so she can enjoy the outdoors in a familiar setting.
The flower garden came together. I transplanted the violets and snapdragons there. At first, it seemed that they would not make it. They struggled for a couple of weeks but pulled through and began filling the beds with some greenery. In the more empty spots and beds, I sowed different flowers.
While the well water is available near the garden, I still wanted a secondary (rainwater) system. But since the greenhouse has a rounded roof, I had to figure out another way to fill the barrel when it rained. I found a video on Youtube where one person recommended setting up a tarp roof for the barrel. That is what I ended up doing. This system did not prove to be very effective, however. The tarp was too small, and because I did not fasten it firmly enough, it was struggling in the wind. I plan to rework it for the next season with a better roof.
The combination of squash, corn, and beans is called the Three Sisters. You are supposed to plant them together as companion plants. The squash leaves provide shade, and corn stalks provide vertical crawl spaces for the pole beans. It was fun to try this method and see how plants can work together to support each other.
While the sheer amount of hard work that went into starting the garden over was no joke, I found the process extremely fun and at times therapeutic. I am not the type of person to enjoy the existence of sitting on my ass and twirling thumbs all day. Quite the opposite. I get depressed if that is what is required of me. Creating things with my hands is what brings me joy and purpose. I love building and seeing how my actions directly impact growth in the garden.
I also discovered that since my surgery the year prior, I was no longer struggling with the more physical tasks. I remember at the lowest point, I almost felt like fainting before. It is odd how one can get used to feeling rubbish. But suddenly, things were easier to handle. I was and am very grateful for that.
Anyhow, part one is getting way too long. Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to read about my gardening adventures! Part two of three is coming soon <3
Song of the day: Au5, Tasha Baxter - Stargate -VIP
That was a lovely garden! Your flower bed design is quite interesting.
Your greenhouse is probably the best place to grow tomato plants, they seem to like the heat. The only bad part of growing tomatoes in a greenhouse is that they don't pollinate as well as they do outside. I shake my plants when they're blooming in the greenhouse to help with pollination because the bees don't go in the greenhouse very much.
I would even take this further and say that life itself is a process, much like working in the garden, and that process is where our happiness comes from.
Your garden is spectacular and to be honest I am quite jealous that you have so much space! It is amazing. Whilst reading your post, I felt my own need to work in the garden, to get my fingers dirty with ground.
Thank you so much for sharing and may your crops be blessed!
Oh, I can't even count the times gardening has taught me life lessons. So many parallels!
It makes me happy that my gardening adventures can serve as an inspiration. As I put these posts together, I myself can't wait to return at the garden. I am filled with determination to make it even greater this new year! And indeed, we are so lucky to have so much space. The stretch of land I am renting is 4x50 meters or so. Of course, I am still hope of having huge fields at my disposal one day. That would be a total dream.
Thank you for your time and kind words! Means a lot coming from a fellow gardener! And I wish you a lot of success with your garden as well! Happy New Year! :)
That is so true. Having a huge piece of land at your disposal would be awesome. I have many such dreams where I find some big property, hectares of ground, to restore to the indigenous fauna and flora. I live in an area called the Fynbos Biome, and various of these plants can be eaten and used in medicine. It is a total dream to have a huge piece of land growing these plants.
Cheers to the new year, to your garden and success, and to dreaming about bigger properties for us gardners.
I have no words honestly. I see garden posts every single day, but yours is like the beauty queen of all gardens. Planned, organized and successful as well. That secondary (rainwater) system looks interesting. My dad has two barrels to collect rainwater and works well, when it's raining, but lately rain has become scarce, unfortunately.
I'm looking forward to reading part 2 and 3 as well.
Thank you, woah!
I am not sure how to explain it, but garden plot has an amazing energy and while the neighbors are close by, it does not throw me off like normally it would for me. I feel great working there. Even just mowing the surrounding lawn. It all came together harmoniously. The garden became like my little escape filled with peace, buzz of the bees, and flowers everywhere.
Oh noes! Is it because of climate change? It is so scary! I hope the nature somehow will find a way to balance it out.
I can't wait to share more! :)
Welcome back, and nice shots! Here, there is a similar and obvious difference between people who have gardening experience and the new folks who want to dabble in homesteading because it's trendy. My library is starting to plan our spring gardening programs to support all skill levels this Spring.
Thank you for the warm welcome back! The past few months have been a bit of a shit show and have kept me away from everything I love doing. While it is still on going in January, chances are I will have plenty of time for Hive in February and beyond.
Oh, I still sometimes feel like I am just dabbling or practicing for the real thing that will come in future. For forever home and garden, I mean. At the same time, I have been introduced to gardening probably before I even knew how to tie my shoelaces properly! xD
Awesome! Those skills are important. Even while simply dabbling.
There was one summer about 25 years ago when my mother was quite sick at garden planting time. Since I grew up working with her, I was able to manage most of the work myself despite my young age at the time. My dad tilled, and I laid out the tows and beds to plant. I was probably working from a plan my mom had drawn up, because she tends to do that, but still, I can claim a lot of credit there.
Are your pots made of clay? I like it.
Your greenhouse and your seedlings are all set. ☺️
Good luck on your gardening.☺️
They are coconut coir (compressed coconut husks) pots. They usually last only one season, but since they are organic matter I can compost the old pots that are falling apart once they are no longer needed.
Clay pots would last me a lot longer, but I believe they would also be way more expensive and I would need a shed to store them. Maybe one day I will make my own clay pots :)
Thank you so much! I am so excited about the garden in 2023! It will be even grander. I hope at least. The only problem I have ran into is, that sometimes life gets so busy. I hope it will slow down a bit.
Wow, impressive.
I know you can do it. You're welcome. ☺️
The way of your gardening and seeding is very beautiful and your cat is very lovely i love your cat.
Thanks for sharing.
Thank you!
Aww! Thank youuu! She is the sweetest creature I have ever met in my life. She has so much character, and is so expressive with her emotions. And her cuteness melts all the hearts! >^.^<
I also want to spend time with your cat.
Thank you for sharing this post on HIVE!
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Thank you for the support @diyhub team and @priyanarc! <3 I hope this post was embodiment the diy spirit since I love creating things with my own hands and stuff! Thank you for encouragement to keep on working hard on cool posts on Hive!
Your farm consists of varieties of crops, grains and veggies. Farming is difficult, but the produce brings joy during harvest. Hope, All produced as expected last year?
I love it, even when it is difficult at times. And the whole process start to finish brings me as much joy and healing for the soul.
Not exactly. I think it is never 100% success with everything as there are variables that are out of my control like the weather, for example. Some of the failures were, as I mentioned in the post, that none of the beans sprouted, and I had to start the pumpkin seedlings over since the first ones did not survive the transplanting because of rain and cooler weather at night time. My onions also did not fully develop. Also, one of my peonies did not survive the hot summer days.
Other than that, the garden was way more successful than I expected. I will write more about that in the next post :)
Sorry. But there is this quality of yours am admiring. That's, persistence and patience. They are qualities that helps one to overcome feelings of failure hoping for the best. I pray your farm gonna produce more this year. Weldone
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