Back to the Garden

I am late this year. Except for the potatoes and onion starts but even those were late although they aren't suffering in the least. My reasons for being late just made everything worse because I wasn't doing what I needed to do which was to go back to the Garden. I'd like to say I feel better but I don't. I felt better when I was out there today. A lot to catch up on. I spent a good part of the afternoon sitting on my ass in the dirt pulling up weeds in a hazy relaxed zen state. I was wearing my old paddock boots my mother bought me a long time ago and Simon recently ate the zipper off one and the back off the other. They still work. I rolled up the cotton yoga pants I was wearing and put a knot in the t-shirt from yesterdays 5k and forgot everything but the forest to cut back enough to add food.

My mistake was shooting myself in the head again when I'd showered and settled down. Not really relevant except as a reminder to go to what's real. Or suffer the consequences of painful illusion. I'll take the garden any day. It always makes sense as long as you're paying attention.

 

I didn't have to do anything. The lettuce is back from last year except it looks like butter crunch, not romaine which means it's moved back inside the fence and over three beds. Wild food. Or I don't know what little romaine looks like. Either way it's food and all I had to do was notice it.

 

If I had the motivation I'd link back to these alpine babies and show you last year when they went in. You'll have to take my word for it; they've more than doubled in size and should have been split this year. Next spring for sure. They'd make a nice border and produce until the first hard frost. 

 

If I pay attention this year the potato bugs won't have a chance. They are planted on top of last years corn which is one of the few things that didn't volunteer this year making me think about Michael Pollan's thing on the way corn evolved requiring human intervention and do we control it or does it control us?  

 

Tomato forests were everywhere. The only explanations I can come up with is either the squirrels were playing tomato cricket last fall or the rototiller picked up and spread the seeds to nearly all of the beds early this spring. I left this forest on top of one of the potato hills. I don't know what will happen or how soon because I'm going to have to hill those potatoes eventually. Maybe I will leave this like an island in the garden and see what it does. I left a couple of islands here and there including a couple of pumpkin plants which may or may not be Audrey's children. Given the location they could be Audrey or children of the great jack-o-lantern failure. I Know I said no more pumpkins in the garden but well I only left a few.

 

Tomato forest a few feet back.

 

This shot takes my breath away. Can you see the unspent wish in the middle of the garlic patch? I left it for the forest fairies. I discovered I don't care for orderly gardens. I like the weeds. Can't have them taking over but the ground doesn't need to be sterile. Last summer sitting in the dirt I decided that if I was going to be something in this garden it would be those flowering chives. More so this year.

 

I know that I am supposed to keep my beds separate and pull up the volunteers and kill all the weeds and I want you to know that I did very well. I only left about 1%. What I thought about doing was leaving the entire potato bed from last year alone this year packed with tomatoes, pumpkins, wandering dill and potatoes and who knows what else I missed. I compromised and tore out almost everything except some guys like this potato and some pumpkins and a few tomato forests and then I put in the yellow squash seedlings that I had to buy this year because I was too absorbed with illusion that I never started the seeds I ordered.

The beds all have quite a bit of room this year. One of the things I learned last year was that over planting, as much as difficult soil killed a lot of my food. I wonder what I'll learn this year. I like weeds. I have already learned that it is not too late. Might even be perfect.

 

The dill is everywhere. I pulled up none of it and protected even the little guys.

 

Crazy oregano, the biggest patch of dill (which did not start there last year) a scattering of habeneros and basil. I put the basil in little patches all over. This is feeling more like the start of a perennial bed.

 

I pulled up all the weeds to put the celery back where it was last year against the fence and its in neat rows because it asked to be. What's up with the OCD celery? I left some dandelions for wishes. Maybe the celery won't notice.

 

I stopped waiting for Nomans to put the catnip in for Beloved Cat (most amazing catnip slut ever) and she got a few more things as well. There is terraced basil to the left and something that makes a white flower.

  

See? That is wild butter crunch from seed two years ago and it's come inside the fence. Doesn't it look like the wild lettuce from the first shot?  I think so. I put in strawberry beds next to the garlic and the onions. It looks pretty and maybe the strawberries won't be laced with garlic.

 

Dill forest up close.

 

Peppers and zucchini and cucumbers in the back. Lots of space this year.

 

Eccinacia, hundreds of cosmos, morning glories and nasturtium. Simon runs through here all the time and it's still thriving. I yell at him anyway just on general principle.

 

Baby nettle?

 

Last year most of this patch had some serious trouble. This year not so much. It comes up without interference and thrives. Sometimes it's better to let things be. I ran outside in the rain to take these photographs during a wave of agony I've mostly got at bay these days. This one snuck up and twisted my guts until I nearly vomited on my feet. I managed to not throw my cell phone and grabbed the camera instead and ran back to the garden.

I came upon a child of god
He was walking along the road
And I asked him, where are you going
And this he told me
Im going on down to yasgurs farm
Im going to join in a rock n roll band
Im going to camp out on the land
Im going to try an get my soul free
We are stardust
We are golden
And weve got to get ourselves
Back to the garden

Then can I walk beside you
I have come here to lose the smog
And I feel to be a cog in something turning
Well maybe it is just the time of year
Or maybe its the time of man
I dont know who l am
But you know life is for learning
We are stardust
We are golden
And weve got to get ourselves
Back to the garden

By the time we got to woodstock
We were half a million strong
And everywhere there was song and celebration
And I dreamed I saw the bombers
Riding shotgun in the sky
And they were turning into butterflies
Above our nation
We are stardust
Billion year old carbon
We are golden
Caught in the devils bargain
And weve got to get ourselves
Back to the garden

Comments

[lisahgolden]

Okay, I cannot believe that no one has commented on this post. I loved it. I've been disconnected from my garden for two years now and I miss it like crazy.

But life is change, isn't it? Good, bad, all of it.

Sometimes, the connection with the soil is the most grounding moment in my day (no pun intended.)

Recently, we brought some soil/compost from our old garden to our new place to fill in and provide conditioning. Then we planted some hollyhocks, hostas, iris and lambs ear we'd brought along from the old garden as well. Everything has taken off. Thank goodness. But like you, I'm a fool for volunteer plants. It feels wrong to pull them out. Still, sometimes that weeding out is necessary.

I apologized to each tomato plant I pulled from the flower bed/tomato forest. Now that we're living in a more populated area, I just hope the neighbors didn't see and recognize me for the nut I am.

May your garden flourish like never before, Alecto.

[alecto]

Thanks Lisa. I find myself calm and whole sitting in the dirt in the sun or even light rain (most of the time I pass on the heavy down pour). My neighbors already know I'm crazy and the garden being down a slight incline means they don't have to look so much unless they're coming over to make off with tomatoes.