frustration

Remember all those seedlings from March? Well, they died.

So I started them all again.

And those died. Maybe there was something wrong with the potting mix?

So I was forced to rely on the kindness of friends (thanks, Lisa M!) and the surplus of the 4H garden club and the varieties available by retail. Sigh. No hand-selected heirloom tomato or pepper varieties. No unusual veggies like bok choy or purple cauliflower.

Fortunately, there were still lots of plants to be had, and my friends also like unusual varieties. So my garden has tomatoes like Isis Candy and White Queen and Black Trifele that I got from Sugarbush Nursery. And Amish Paste and Beefsteak and Early Girl that I got from 4H. And, of course, the annual Mystery tomato that Lisa always ends up with. They're growing well, and so far the squirrels have not started eating them. Of course, I haven't either, as they're still green.

It's kind of a drag to go from 50 pepper seedlings to 10 stunted last-picks. But at least there are some pepper plants growing in my garden. Still have to see if they actually bear. Last year's didn't, so I don't have high hopes.

We added some more raised beds this year -- two 4' x 8' beds full of mushroom soil, peat moss, and Rodale Institute compost. One has just tomatoes (and a few peppers), and the other has 3 pounds of potatoes -- fingerling, yukon gold, and purple beauty. These are the best two beds of the farm. I cannot believe how lush the growth is in these two beds. I'll try to get a photo soon. Hopefully the potato plants are not just leaves. I'm really hoping for some yummy potatoes next month.

The other plots -- the ones with the PVC-and-chicken-wire cages around them -- have all been infiltrated by varmints. I have replanted my beans so many times that I've given up -- and I can't for the life of me figure out how the (bunnies? chipmunks?) are getting in!! No beans this year. The carrots are fighting to survive -- the tops are mostly gone, but hopefully there will be some bottoms in the end. Argh. The only plants left in these beds are things like onions, garlic, and turnips. Try to make a meal out of those.

It's a real bummer to try to sit down and blog about gardening when everything feels like a failure. Maybe in some future year I'll have all this pest-control figured out, then I'll look back on this and... what? Laugh? Cry? All I know is I look back on my last month or two -- all the time spent working in that blasted garden -- and cry over all my wasted time feeding the stupid animals.

and they're off!

Seven weeks until spring and the broccoli, pak choi, collards, and cosmos are up!

Need to get the tomatoes and peppers started...

the subversive garden club

After 6 months, I have finally gotten around to posting again. I'm sure it's directly related to the fact that I started some seeds today.

I always start each gardening season full of optimism -- this year, I'm going to grow so much! I'm going to keep track of everything! I'm going to keep my beds weeded and watered! I'm going to keep the critters out and the bugs off! I'm going to can and freeze and dehydrate! And, of course: I'm going to blog every day!

Reality usually sets in, though. The weeds grow, the critters come, the rain doesn't... and neither do the words. But this year, I know it will be different. This year, we started a garden club.

Today it was just three friends getting together for white-bean-and-kale soup (thank you, Lisa M!) to talk about what we are thinking in terms of a garden club (what were we thinking?) and maybe to start some seeds. (According to the farmer's almanac, we're 7 or 8 weeks before last frost, so we'd better get our cole crops going!) A printed email from a fourth friend lay on the table, full of ideas and potential garden club names. "Cathy likes subversive things," Lisa said. Thus, the subversive garden club.

I now have a tray with twelve 4-packs of newly planted seeds on my dining room table -- broccoli, kale, pak choi, impatiens, basil (I just couldn't wait) -- and a fire in the fireplace. We still have a long way to go, but spring is coming, and there will be a garden!