Dreaming about a garden.
#057
As the weather continues to get a little warmer, I’m reminded of how much I’m looking forward to working in our garden this spring and summer. We’ve lived here for almost six years and this will be our third year growing a garden.
Last year, we attempted growing watermelon and yielded about three small sangria hybrid watermelons. The one pictured above split before we could get to it and some insects had already made a home inside. If you look closely, you can see an inchworm on the left piece. The ones that made it were quite possibly the best watermelons I’ve ever eaten.
There’s lots to do before it’s time to plant, though. I need to remove a couple of small stumps, decide if we’re going to expand the garden again, and sketch out our plot plan for this year’s garden. We grow a variety of tomatoes and cucumbers along with green beans, zucchini, kale, lettuce, and a few other things here and there.
For the last two years, I’ve picked up a truckload of mushroom compost, spread it out on top of the garden plot and let it sit for a couple of weeks in order for it to break down into the soil. Then, I rent a small tiller to mix it into the soil below before it’s time to plant. The compost really seems to help and I like that it’s a natural additive and not anything chemically heavy and potentially harmful.
Believe it, or not, we’ve had good luck with an electric fence to keep the deer out. I use 8-foot t-posts with seven strands of polywire up to seven feet high. The polywire is connected to a small, solar energizer that’s grounded and works like a charm.
Do you grow a garden? If so, how do you keep deer from eating your vegetables?
I’ve been trying to shoot my bow every day. This past Monday, I thought I’d try shooting from the comfort of the shop area of the basement. All I needed to do was open the sliding glass door, aim, and release. Bad practice for hunting, I’m sure, but it was the consistency I was, ahem, aiming for.
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Have a great weekend, y’all!
- Roger
I live in an apartment complex so can't really garden. But because my section faces the back "yard" of the complex, I planted, discretely, tomatoes and basil last year. After trying, and failing, to grow basil on my balcony, it was nice to have a banner year. I watered it a little, but basically let nature, and rain and sun, do it's thing. I had more basil and tomatoes than I knew what I do with. Still have pesto in my freezer!
I can't help but think of the garden of eden when I hear the word garden. I know the poetry of shooting the bow, hitting the mark.
Old metaphors that still speak to me.
The way metaphors do.
Thanks for the meditation.