It felt good to work around the yard and get my hands dirty and just do something with no interruptions. The only drawback was that we are in the midst of mosquito season and they were HORRIBLE. It was a hot and humid day and I went out there in loose, thick sweatpants and an even thicker hoodie. To make the whole thing just a little bit weirder, I closed the hood off as much as I possibly could, so that really only a third of my face was visible. I looked like I was ready to rob a bank and I was sweating buckets about five minutes into my gardening experience. I basically doused myself in bug spray, was even wearing gardening gloves for the most part, and they still managed to get me. Now, I look like I hit puberty and my face is itchy as can be. After a half hour, I finally got into a comfortable rhythm of planting a seed, swat a mossy, cover the hole, swat a mossy, water the newly planted seed, kill a deer fly and so on and so on. By the end I was really proud of myself.
A year ago, I probably wouldn't have lasted two minutes before I would've started to panic and abandon ship. This time I was out there for a good 3 hours, didn't give up until it was all done and managed to kill about half the mosquito population on our property. I'm pretty sure I didn't win the fight but I sure defied them and laughed into their nasty little faces. I showed them that even though I'm German, and new to this whole bug situation, I'm slowly but surely adapting and am getting a little more Canadian by the day. Five years from now, I might plant the garden totally naked without batting an eye. By then they might not even bother me anymore, because it's not as much fun to torment someone who doesn't even acknowledge your presence, so they might move on to newer immigrants. Anywho, here's a picture of the potatoes I planted in a barrel a couple of weeks ago.
So stoked it actually worked and the plants are growing. Very curious to see how many potatoes we'll get to harvest. Sometimes it really is just as easy as it sounds and all you have to do is try. I've planted my herbs in the hanging baskets on our front deck and some strawberry plants in tires.
Our raspberry bushes are blooming and are producing more fruit each year and if we get to them before the chickens do, we actually get to enjoy them. We've planted some blueberry bushes on our property, because Mia is addicted to them and I'm tired of spending 4 bucks on a tiny little pack. Since we haven't started seedlings indoors this year, Adrian is in the process of building a 9x14 foot greenhouse, so the veggies will grow faster. It also allows us to extend our growing season and control how wet the soil is going to get, because the plants are protected from the elements. Last year's season was so wet, half of our veggies were rotting before they even had a chance to mature. Once the greenhouse is built, we can also reuse it next year and start planting a lot earlier.
I guess the most important thing is that we're learning more about growing a vegetable garden with each passing year, and we're having fun with it. For someone who managed to kill every plant ever given to her within a few weeks in her care, I'm pretty proud that I am actually managing to grow something. So much more satisfying to watch a plant come to life, than watch it suffer and die. I'm sure that not everything I've planted will do well, and some things might not even grow at all. But overall we're happy with what we've accomplished and learned in only one short and very wet season, and we're looking forward to harvesting even more delicious, healthy and organic fruit and vegetables this year.
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