I got some seeds planted in the two main beds of the garden, and now the sprinkler is going and giving everything a nice deep drink of water. I followed no plan in my planting, didn’t pay any attention to companion planting rules, and just put stuff where there was room. I am beyond caring about companion planting or meticulous plans for where things need to go. I actually believe it just doesn’t matter. The seeds go into the good dirt, they are watered, and they will grow and produce or not.
Today some Black Seeded Simpson (lettuce) head lettuce, arugula, scallions, and pear and pineapple tomato seeds got stuck into the ground. Tonight I’m going to get my herb seeds started in paper pots, and by the time they are ready to transplant into the garden if the fava beans, cauliflower, and brussels sprouts haven’t show any sign of doing something more than sitting there sucking up resources and being green, most of them will be going away to make room for herbs and carrots and radishes. I’ll also be starting some tomato seeds, because I have decided to use some of the containers I was using when I started this vegetable garden experiment. One can never have too many tomato plants. Or tomatoes. I want a lot of tomatoes this year.†
I got the old potato bed cleared out, except for one small fire ant mound I need to deal with in the morning, and those two tiny shriveled potato starts I found behind the stove (from my first harvest) have been planted. I don’t know that I truly expect them to come up at all, but I decided it was worth trying. Once the fire ants are gone, the other end of that bed will be the home of a few okra plants.
The mound area still needs to be cleaned up, which is where the beans are going to go, and the new area that was tilled and then not used during winter needs to be weeded too. I haven’t decided what to put there yet. Maybe the corn. Maybe just more onions, carrots, radishes, and herbs. Maybe something new and different. I haven’t decided yet.
I’m trying to be excited about the garden. I’m just not feeling it yet. Maybe once all the nasty weeds are gone and the fire ants are all dead and baby plants are starting to come up I’ll get excited. Right now, it just feels like a chore I’d rather not do. I’ll keep doing it though, because hope does spring eternal, and maybe this summer’s garden will make me happy. Maybe.
Footnotes- † Speaking of lots of tomatoes, I had lots of tomatoes last summer. Unfortunately, I was far too giving to nature’s critters, and they enjoyed more of our tomatoes than we did. This summer, I have decided to be selfish and will be using bird netting to keep the critters off my produce. [↩]