It has been such a long time since my last post, over 2 weeks, almost 3 as September seemed to have just whispered by since Freedom. A lot of my time in September has been just catching up on things, unwinding, reassimilating my thoughts, reassessing goals and direction and really trying to properly reenergise.
I've spent quite a bit of time in the garden, but no where nearly as much as I had planned. I started ambitious, but it was only last week that I decided to drill drainage holes in my half wine barrels that I had bought a month or so ago. Yes, that is how slow I work. There has also been drama with my seedlings, as the ones which I had started so so early in July seemed to have been stunted due to the fact that I didn't realise seed raising mix...was totally inappropriate to leave seedlings in once they germinated.
I know, amateur. I transplanted all of them into jiffy pots (yes, mistake again) with potting mix and compost and they recovered by turning green once again (as opposed to yellow). Yellow being a sign of malnutrition from what I understand. Their growth however has been stunted which I am bitterly disappointed about, given that I had meticulously seeded each punnet with heirloom varieties thinking I would be well positioned for a bumper crop. I can now only just water, watch and hope they take off. The seedlings which I have started a bit later are almost catching up which indicates it may be a losing battle.So dramas aside, you are probably dying to know what varieties of tomatoes am I planning (hoping) to grow this year?
StupiceTommy Toe
Black Krim
Yellow Pear
Aunty Ruby's German Green
Rouge de Marmande
Hillbilly
Maldovan Green
Speckled Roman
All the seedlings have been started, some more advanced than others which I suppose won't be a bad thing as I will stagger their plantings.I also tried starting my padron peppers really early, but they appear to have been stunted due to the "starvation episode", so I'm gonna start them all again..so disappointing, but I figure I still have some time. I've also got cukes, zukes, tomatillo (hopefully), alpine strawberries, several varieities of capsicum and chillis (including habaneros), so so many different types of basils, and other herbs, and a whole lot of beans.I also dug into a patch of garden that I thought would be perfect for things like tomatoes...but I quickly learned why it is recommended, for the area that I live in, that raised beds be used. It was just full of heavy heavy heavy clay. It's going to need a lot of work, a lot of organic matter, and more work. So I think I will only try and grow zucchinis and pumpkins this year in that area. WHO would've thought growing my own stuff would be so hard. For the record, yes, it would've been easier just to buy my produce grown by others...but I've also discovered that there is something incredibly satisfying in doing something that is hard. It seems we've become scared of the backyard, the garden, and ultimately nature. We barely even know where our produce has come from. The other day I did something that I had never done before which was to pick some peas from the garden and eat them within minutes. I said I would never grow tall peas again, but the purple podded peas are heartbreakingly beautiful to see climbing in the garden. Indeed, there is something satisfying about doing something that is hard.
I have no idea when to transplant my citrus so I might just do it sometime in the next week. I figure better now than high summer or deep winter right?
For now, fingers crossed for my tomatoes.
Oh I also saw on a forum someone planting beans in a bucket...so I decided to do the same!HOW AWESOME?!
Where?
My backyard
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