Monday 3 June 2013

Busy in the garden

It was a couple of weeks ago that I was feeling alright with the progress we were making in the garden, and that everything was on schedule.  Imagine my surprise when June came sneaking up on us and there was still a large patch of dirt without seeds or transplants or anything but opportunistic weeds growing in it!  Days that threatened rain followed by evenings filled to the brim with activities led to few trips to the community garden and a bit of a wild scramble this weekend.

This year, we built new pea fences.  The ones we used last year were too short and not strong enough to support the peas.  While the fences were built in plenty of time, they didn't quite find their way into the garden quickly.  We found that our rubber mallet wasn't quite up to the task of driving them into the ground.  While we borrowed a hammer shortly after, I discovered I wasn't strong enough to swing it up over my shoulder and land it accurately on top of the fence stakes.  So several didn't make it in until this weekend.  Which was okay for the peas, as I planned to experiment with staggered plantings this year so we could have a more continuous supply and space out our processing work when the harvest was ready.

What didn't work out was that I couldn't imagine how much space the pea fences would take up so I could plant the rest of the garden that would lay to the south of it.  The space itself was actually larger than I had planned for, which also changed my plans.  And I have a sneaky suspicion that I planted some things closer together than I had planned when I drew up my garden plan.  Yes, I could have used a tape measure to figure it out.  But in the heat of the moment, with a toddler wielding a paintbrush covered in red, another child asking questions about planting beans and a third starting to wiggle like bathroom time was just moments away, the tape measure was the last thing from my mind. 

Anyway, all those things combined led to tweaking the garden plan on the spot and some indecision.  Until there was really no time left for indecision.  I found myself at the garden by myself last night, while Chris set to work getting the children's weary bodies into bed.  I'm happy to say that I was able to get it planted and watered.  And I'm glad that while I let my disorganized self get the better of me, I still stuck with labelling all our rows and I did a better job in spacing the plants out.  Now we just need to weed, water, and ask the sun to help us out by sending its warm rays down on our little patch of land.


Please grow, little plants.  Thanks!

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