[2021-06-11] It's the journey
Today, a friend gave me surplus seedlings to add to my backyard garden: cucumbers, peppers and kale. I spent a good part of the afternoon planting those seedlings, moving others to different containers passed along to me by my mom, and rigging chicken wire—also from my mom—over my lettuces to deter the pesky squirrels.
I have no idea whether my container garden will produce any vegetables, but it is exciting to see everything growing. My tomato plants are already two feet tall; it's hard to believe that they were barely six inches high when my niece and sister gave them to me only a month ago.
My niece's bush beans are pushing through and above the crude frame I built to support them, fashioned from sticks collected in the little woods behind my house. Most of my beets survived after it looked like a squirrel had used part of the container for his bed; I added a wooden fortress on top of my beets in the hopes that the pest would take a hint and find another place to have a nap. My niece's peas are climbing up the rough frame I constructed.
With my sister's help, I built a trellis for my cucumbers to climb on. My herbs are flourishing, though I'll need to plant more cilantro (yes, I'm one of those people who love cilantro). My zucchini and my niece's patty pan squash are doing well, especially now that they are in separate containers. My spring garlic is growing nicely, as are my onions, radishes and kale.
More than anything, my garden is an experiment. I'm figuring out which plants need a lot of sunlight and which ones can get by with just a few hours each day.
I'm surveying the squirrel damage and devising systems to discourage them from playing in my containers.
I'm assessing how much space I need for each plant. I seem to have guessed correctly for my tomatoes, but not my cucumbers, zucchini and patty pan squash. In the latter case, however, I rectified my error by moving my zucchini and squash plants to separate containers and spreading my cucumbers across the original planter.
I'm evaluating which soil types I like best.
I'm not alone in my gardening endeavour. I pick up ideas from the Internet. My sister, nieces and mom all share their tips, not to mention their seeds, seedlings and garden supplies. And I'm grateful for my friend's gift today; it's been nice to be able to plant, transplant and build structures over time, rather than all at once.
The garden is an integral part of my healing. My previously chaotic, demanding and work-focused life has been stripped down to the basics: activities designed to nurture my physical and mental health, such as walking, baking, gardening, reading, writing, and connecting with family and friends.
When I mentioned to my daughter this evening that I'm not sure what I'll get for all the effort, she said, "It's the journey, Mom, not the destination." She's absolutely right. I am enjoying the process of building a garden, watching it grow, and adjusting my approaches. Every day when I return from my walk, I come in through the backyard and tour my garden. There's something immensely satisfying in seeing daily progress, however small.
