gardenthoughts

i just came in from outside .. while i was out there .. wandering around, completely distracted with all that’s happening in the garden .. rain or shine .. i realized that i wanted to get a batch of bread on before i start playing outside .. it feels as if my days are so full, at the moment, that i need to remind myself there are other things to take care of in my world, aside from the gardens .. so, bread’s rising and i have some time to type thoughts ..

i’m in the midst of frustration .. i keep getting this message when i attempt to upload photos:  “unable to create directory /home/.odelia/myname/gardenthoughts.ca/wp-content/uploads/2010/06 .. is its parent directory writable by the server?” .. whatever that means .. right now it means i can’t upload photos .. hmmmm .. this part of the computer thing isn’t my favourite .. i just want it to work .. do what i know it can do .. do it .. not all this mumble jumble in a language foreign to me .. gets my mind in a whirl .. so, until i get this figured, no photos other than what i have in my ‘wordpress library’ .. hmm wondering if it might have to do with having too many photos in that library .. computers .. aaaarrrghhh! .. that said, i love having one .. sigh .. dichotomies ..

i had to leave home for about three weeks recently .. maybe a week or two before that, i’d planted up the square foot garden up  .. the day i was leaving i took some peering time .. didn’t see anything coming up yet .. the braod beans were just starting to make volcanoes in the soil .. the lettuce and green onions i’d planted looked as though they’d taken ahold .. that was about all .. not being one to take much for granted, i was hopefull that by the time i arrived home again the little garden would be chugging along .. well, wasn’t i in for a surprise ..

life had been particularly busy while i was away, and i hadn’t really had time to think about the garden .. except for one night when the deer entered my thoughts .. had i left the spray bottle full, i wondered .. i talked with frank the next day .. interestingly enough, he told me that he’d been thinking about spraying for deer the night before .. i figured about the time i was thinking ‘deer’ he was, too .. well, his thought didn’t make it to the deed .. and i was too far away .. sure enough, next morning he saw the evidence of their presence in the yard .. that is one of the cardinal rules of deer spraying .. ‘don’t rely on the calendar .. rely on your intuition’ .. ah, well .. not a big deal .. i thought the great part of the story was that we’d both thought deer at the same time ..

and .. as usual .. i digress .. back to the square footer .. after three weeks of not being able to peer at those sixteen little square feet, i had no idea what to expect .. i knew it would have grown .. somewhat .. and when i saw it i was delightedl .. something was happening in each of the little squares .. just like a mini garden .. the broad beans, in particular, were astonishing .. they’d only just begun coming through the earth before i left .. now they were over a foot tall .. next i saw the transplants of lettuce and green onions .. for whatever reason, they were smaller than others i’d spread about the yard .. in pots on the deck .. under the blueberries .. these lettuces had thrived .. lush and loose .. the ones in the square foot, though, were stalkier .. not quite as loose as one might imagine a “drunken woman” .. checking out the kale, it was obvious it had had to battle slugs .. and looks like it won .. ragged and torn, but still there .. the chard, on the other hand, didn’t seem to have the same fortitude of the kale .. there were a couple of little red stalks struggling .. and the beets and carrots suffered the same fate .. next to nothing showing there .. however, the other lettuce and radishes were growing beautifully together .. more rows of radishes in another square foot doing well .. the spinach getting off to a slow start .. my mouth waters thinking of making spinach pie .. mmmm .. so all in all, i was delightfully surprised at what this little garden was doing ..

i’ve since replanted the carrots and beets and chard .. i was inspired by karen .. she also has planted up a facsimilie of the square foot garden .. her carrots and beets are already three or four inches tall .. happy .. healthy .. robust .. absolutely beautyfull .. a bit of envy pops into my mind .. “look how well karen’s are doing .. what happened to mine .. whine, whine .. question .. question .. maybe i planted too early .. maybe there was too much rain .. maybe this .. maybe that” .. i don’t know how one ever knows for sure .. there’s always so many factors involved .. soil .. sun .. warmth .. moisture .. things seen .. things unseen .. vibes .. i stop myself before getting embroiled in fantastical imaginings which only carry me away from the present .. in my experience, things grow differently in every different garden .. on our little island alone, i’m sure there are as many eco systems as there are square feet of island .. well .. possibly .. maybe not that many .. at any rate, our garden will, naturally, be different than karen’s .. and while i stand admiring her bounty, i can see a similar picture of our  little square foot garden .. well, once i replant .. one of the wonderfull things about this square foot garden is the patterns that appear .. i missed the initial coming up patterns .. now there are growing patterns developing .. and once all the square start growing .. wow ..  it could be like a patchwork quilt .. one could almost plan their square feet on specific patterns .. well, if one wanted to get really anal about it ..

and i’m thankfull .. the square foot garden is growing .. beautifully .. it will do what it will do .. be what it will be .. and i get to be here to watch .. and peer to my heart’s delight ..

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 6th, 2010 at 11:21 am and is filed under vegetable garden. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.