As I wrote early this year , I knewone of my not bad challengesas a new Fannie Merritt Farmer and a new mother would be calculate out how gardening with a baby in tow would work . To not get overwhelmed by this prospect , I gift myself three major goal :
I canveryhumbly describe that I deliver the goods in accomplish exactlyzeroof these goals . My tomato were not bountiful enough to can . Few of the herb seeds I started develop , and the ones that did germinate go after transplanting . And I never laid mulch to stop weeds — I do n’t even have an apology for that one ; it just did n’t happen .
While I ’m tempted to intend of myself as a complete failure in the garden this yr , I will say that I ’ve learned quite a fortune — if not about the horticulture operation , then about myself . accommodate my shortcomings is n’t always easy . In fact , I discover it downright excruciating . But if I want to improve at this husbandry thing , I have to reflect on what did n’t go as plan and then tweak the appendage to work in my favor in the come years .
So here are my lessons learned . I ’m sure I ’ll get many rounds of “ say ya so ! ” and “ Been there , done that ! ” from those with more experience , but bear with me . The learning curve ball involved in garden with a babe is sharp , and I ’m slow gain my path around the bend .
1. I Don’t Love Growing Vegetables
Wow . It took me a retentive clip to come around to this realisation . I learned this year that I just ca n’t grow produce as well as the market farmer in my area — at least not with the current time and resource that raising a family has allotted me . When I lived in town and had a little raised - seam garden , growing my own vegetables was a novelty to append my husbandman - market purchases . For some reason , I believed that moving to the country include the need to grow a important portion of my food myself . First , that ’s just not true , and second , I just do n’t enjoy it that much . In the sheath of veg , grow less brings more joy .
What I do making love , however , is growing herbs that I employ to make homemade tea , salves , tinctures and more . These are things I ca n’t buy from others in my community , and therefore , it seems like a more worthy investiture of my clock time . Plus , I plainly prefer herbs — they’re more forgiving , they ’re prettier , and they ’re great for the bees . Will I grow veggie in the hereafter ? Probably . I might even essay a large kitchen garden again once I ’m not carrying a petty one on my back . For the near future , though , herbs are where I ’d rather focus my clock time .
2. Smaller Is Better
I know , I know . The No . 1 mantra for beginning James Leonard Farmer is“start modest . ”I foolishly think that because I ’d done it small in the metropolis , I could go boastful when I baffle more landed estate . That ’s just not so . For one , this is a new piece of land we ’re work with , so we have a peck to learn about it . The process of getting to know a fresh place acquire time . It makes sentiency that we should get to know it in belittled chunks , not all at once . Second , raising a tyke take a sight of time . The garden is no longer my baby — my baby is my sister — and I do n’t have the attending to gardening a large , impoverished plot of land with lots of plants right now . Next year , we ’ll scale it back a bit .
3. Closer Is Better
One of my favourite thing about our holding ? It was formerly possess by grocery store gardeners , so it came with an astonishing irrigation apparatus . A solar - powered well pump energy water into a Brobdingnagian cistern at the top of the hill , which then gravity flow down to the garden . The job ? It ’s 1/4 mile from the house . When I want to garden , I have to tuck up all my tools , load up my babe and make my manner down to the garden .
With the garden so far aside from the theater , there ’s no picking mourning band when travel from the gondola to the mudroom threshold , or water plant while the child forty winks or harvest home St. Basil the Great when in the middle of cooking dinner . When I do visit the garden , I postulate to drop a significant chunk of time there . That does n’t posture so well with the little one . She usually hang out for about 20 minutes before it ’s time to eat or get a sleep or snuggle . ( middling much all thing with this one involve snuggle . ) As much as it pain me not to use the really coolheaded resource we have , for the next few years , I need to do my horticulture nigher to the house .
4. It’s Not Cheating to Use Containers
I ’ve put a lot of pressure on myself to garden the “ veracious ” way because now we have our place in the country . We no longer need to bother with patio gardens and raised bed — we have estate ! Humph ! I can now look back at this attitude and understand how whole naive I was .
Soil need to be build up .
smoke need to be dealt with .
Deer need to be fenced out .
All of these thing ask clock time and tools . Yes , we can begin working on them and accumulating our armoury of equipment , but it might be a trivial while until we ’ve fully get in . justly now , when I have a trivial one constantly on my articulatio coxae , I postulate to take that it ’s not betray to grow some things in containers . ( I ’ll call them my “ preferred plants . ” ) Doing so will help me keep my green ovolo in shape until I can practicably do more .
5. It’s Not Cheating to Let Someone Else Start My Seeds
One of the biggest bummers this year was losing a beneficial dower of the seed I started . I do n’t make love whether my seed - starting grime was bad or I did n’t give the babe plants the aid they require . Whatever the reason , it was a Brobdingnagian smash to my self - esteem . While I ’ll uphold to attempt to perfect this skill , next year I wo n’t put all my seed into one basket , per se . Maybe I ’ll buy some starts or ask a more experient friend to start some seeds for me .
I get wind a heap this year with not much to show for it . Hopefully , in the come years , these toilsome lessons will pay off .
