Garden Thoughts…

I’m up late trying to plan out my garden for the year. I’ve already planted a small salad garden in an old kiddie pool, and a cooler weather garden in a pallet raised bed (peas, onions, carrots, radishes, and cabbage). I’m also trying to test my luck with growing potatoes in laundry baskets as well as old tires. Some people say it doesn’t work and then there are others who swear by it.

We’ll see.

My flower bed is growing and I can’t seem to stop buying plants. Of course I’ve been this way for a few years now, so I’m hoping I don’t kill anything this year (I’m getting less murderous year by year) and I manage to succeed at least in a few new ways.

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I’m being honest here so I’ll just go ahead and admit that gardening is one of the few things in my life that I’ve failed at, repeatedly, but keep trying every year.

I’m usually a giver-upper. I won’t deny it. I’m not even a sore loser. I don’t get mad or upset about not being good at something I just don’t put any more time into it.

Sports? Forget it. There was no reward that a public school teacher could offer that would make winning a race worth it. Not to mention the fact that when the race was over we weren’t going to be doing anything that was in any way different than running/whatever sport we were attempting had been.

My son is going through an intense Harry Potter phase (which I’m tremendously excited about). He’s on the third book but he’s seen all the movies and read every piece of commentary he can find on the series. I mention it because he’s putting every one, literally every one he sees, in their Hogwarts houses (“What house do you think The Rock is in?” “What house do you think my teacher is in?” “What house do you think that old lady crossing the street is in?”).

Anyway, it’s been decided that I could never be a Slytherin. Ambition? What is that? (*I’m a Gryffindor if you’re wondering)

So, back to the gardening that I keep trying so hard to be good at: I’ve been planning out the big summer garden. Squash, corn, sunflowers, okra, tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, peppers, pumpkins, and (totally new to me and very exciting) luffa. Figuring out what should be planted next to what, and the best times for everything.

I haven’t asked for a lot of help. I know that a lot of people around here are just dying to give me their advice. The need to mansplain is very strong in the rural south. The thing is, the only persons advice I care about is dead.

My Grandma Sue was green from her thumb to her chin. She could plant a tire and grow a car, as they say. I never knew anyone who loved to grow things the way that she did. I remember walking around the yard with her and asking her the names of the flowers that she had. Things she grew from seeds or cuttings. Things she dug up from the side of the road and transplanted.

She died a little over a month before my daughter was born and we had planned on putting a small garden in together, so she could teach me, that spring. It didn’t happen.

I have some things that I transplanted from her yard to mine growing in a small bird garden. I’ve also managed to learn quite a bit over the years that I’ve been growing things.

I can tell the difference in the seedlings I start in the greenhouse, and I know the names of all the things that I have in my flower bed. I’m also learning about different kinds of wildflowers and finding uses for the things that I’m growing that aren’t just food related. I think she would’ve gotten a kick out of the candles and beauty products I’ve made.

In the Fall I hope to can and put away some of my vegetables using some recipes that she passed down to us.

I see now why she loved being in her garden so much. I only wish that she were here to help me pull weeds out of mine.