The following is an entry in the Thanksgiving Challenge 2021. The challenge is simple. Post something you are thankful for, 10 days in a row. Anything at all.
This post will focus on gardening. I am thankful I found the wonderful world of gardening. Until two years ago, I could not claim any success with plants. I tried keeping a few houseplants and for the most part, I killed them. Too much water. Not enough. Too dry. Too humid. The wrong dirt. I don't know what I did wrong, but I was not very successful.
And then I moved to Montana. One of my goals has been to become more self-sufficient, and what better way to do that than to start a garden? So I signed up for a class on gardening at the college. Paid attention, took notes, and then planned my relatively small garden.
Year #1
I came up with the plan and my husband and I agreed on a good location. He built four raised beds for me from trees on our property. Then he used tree trunks for posts, added wire to keep the animals out, built a door and we were set! We call the garden our viking garden because we thought it looked like something vikings might have built in Scandinavia.
We ordered some vegetable garden dirt and placed it into the beds. I selected seeds and/or plants for vegetables and herbs I liked, including carrots, jalapeno pepper, garlic, beets, lettuce, zucchini, butternut squash, tomatoes, basil, cilantro. I only had 1 plant for some of these (pepper, beet), and I bought plants for the tomatoes, beet and pepper. The rest I planted from seed.
And then I tended my garden. After our morning walk with the dog, I would stop by to see how the plants were doing. If weeding was required, I would do it. When my plants had vegetables to be harvested, that's when I would carefully remove them. Then in the late afternoon after walk #2, I'd stop by again. Hubby had built a large stand for our water container. I'd fill the container up with water about once a week, and then use a hose system to water the plants every afternoon.
So how did I do? Year #1 I grew carrots that were so small, they made one side dish. haha. They were really tiny. I ruined my coriander seeds when I harvested them. They weren't dry enough and they all got moldy. My tomatoes had some sort of end rot so I didn't get a lot of the tomato to eat. The garlic grew but was only about the size of the original clove. Butternut squash flowered but gave me no actual squash. On the positive side, the beets were delicious, the zucchini grew well, and the lettuce was yummy.
Year #2
What went differently? I added dirt and compost from the neighbors farm to the beds in the beginning of the season. I grew all the plants from seed, starting some inside months before putting them outside. I added calcium to the soil where the tomatoes were going to go to help alleviate the rot. And I added some different vegetables such as eggplant and yellow pepper. Finally, I did a lot of research on how to grow healthy veggies.
Year #2 went better, but I still did things wrong. I had bought cherry tomatoes which came out good but they're not as satisfying as a big tomato that can be sliced for salads. I did get two butternut squashes, so that was better. My beets and carrots were delicious but too small since I didn't leave enough space between plants. But I learned what worked and what didn't, and here are the changes I'm making for next year:
Next Year
We're doubling the size of the garden and adding four more raised beds. We've already cleared the land and put in the posts. And I'm going to be adding the following plants: beans, corn, yellow zucchini, kale, potatoes, garlic and spanish onions. We are also going to add two fig trees and another fruit tree (trying to decide which ones).
Summary
So how do I feel about gardening? I am incredibly thankful that I am no longer killing plants. I find it so rewarding to be able to wander out to the garden before dinner, pick some fresh produce, go inside, cook it up, and serve it that night. There is no healthier way to eat than directly from the garden. And vegetables you have grown yourself taste infinitely better than those you buy at a store. Even more interesting, I am thankful for the process of tending to my plants. I make sure they are healthy and eating well and getting enough sun. I fix their ills, give them water, and sometimes catch myself talking to them. Haha. Yep, I'm one of "them."
And grateful for it!
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