Greetings all ye gardeners!
I knew I’d come to the right place here at SMGB when I saw the passion amongst you folks for growing things and for beauty. The weekly diaries display a wide array of plants and flowers and other inhabitants of people’s gardens, and it’s a delight to dive into each garden every Saturday. I’ve also found that the pictures and stories in the comments add more depth and detail and variation: like another row of petals to the flower. My garden is very small so I may not host another Saturday diary for a while, but gardens are intrinsically dynamic creations — who knows what I might find out in the yard at another time.
What I’m sharing today are moments in this year’s food garden. I’ve been gardening forever but I’m still a newbie with much to learn. I’m interested to hear any experiences or insights folks have. Since I live on the West Coast and am not an early riser, I’ll be joining you later than the scheduled publishing time of 6am PST, but I’ll be by!
When I bought my place up here in the northwest corner of Washington state in 1989 there was a house, a driveway, some brambly brush and a lawn on my half-acre. I left the shrubs and small trees to provide a visual shield along the road. That meant I had about 100’ x 50’ of lawn where I could create a garden. To start with I planted half a dozen fruit trees, and carved out curved beds where I planted herbs like lavender, rosemary, mint, sage, thyme and annuals, and some landscaping shrubbery. The north-eastern edge of my property has the longest light because of trees belonging to my neighbors, so that’s where I placed my vegetable garden.
Over the years, a degenerative spinal condition has limited me more and more from doing physical labor. It’s been frustrating, but facing the reality of it, I’ve gradually given up all the landscaping and let them go wild. Mr O mows the remaining sections of lawn and I trim once or twice a year. My gardening now is focused on food. I love to eat well, and it’s important to me to know where my food comes from. Plus, I LOVE to handle dirt and growing things, and to see how new things develop. The seed packet may say one thing but in my experience, plants have a mind of their own.
Let’s start in January….
We were away most of April so I put off planting vegetables outside until May.
July is peak season in my garden, maximum sun.
I water with rainwater I collect from the roof and store in catchment tanks. My well water is extremely mineral-laden and makes soil alkaline.
In August things start to wind down.
September….
October…..
Today —
So that’s my food garden story for this year. I hope you enjoyed the vegetables and fruits and insects and birds and slugs and all! We’re certainly not self-sufficient in food, but we eat wonderfully from the garden and I get great pleasure in the growing of it. Gardening is a joyful experience!