Returning to the Garden

 It's been two years since I really put any effort into my vege garden.

I started working full-time, with two hours a day travel, while still spinning and weaving and keeping up my small business.  It hasn't left me with a lot of time left over for any gardening.  Add to this, now, I'm also studying online in my own time.

But the world is going to hell in a handbasket and it's easy to feel hopeless about large international events that will impact and are impacting us here.  And the Muppet show that is our current government isn't helping (while I try not to get political normally, recent statements and law changes are steps too far). Someone said to me "Yeah, but what can you do?"

What can I do?

A great podcast that I follow (Do You F*cking Mind on Spotify for any who are interested) is all about mind health, and some neuroscience.  Alexis frequently says to concentrate on the things you can control.  I can't control inflation, I can't control other peoples' poor choices, I can't control what is looking more and more like another major war impending.

I can grow food.  I can ensure that my family and close friends are fed.  I can provide ordinary veges that only cost me time to grow but cost an arm, leg and a kidney in the supermarkets right now.  I can preserve my glut so that all my family have access to soups and sauces over winter.  I can host a regular family dinner that brings everyone together and ensures that they have a good hearty meal every so often.  

I had previously put a lot of work into improving the soil, the weeds loved my work and as a result, it had become extremely overgrown.  We had made a start to it in summer, but a wet and colder than usual summer meant that harvests were pretty dismal.  Still, it gave us a starting place.

I enlisted Hubby to help build the beginnings of planter boxes.  These have all come from the scrap ends of new rail fencing to replace the fences that were crushed under the fallen trees in some of spring storms we've been having over the last few years.  As more fences (and my new cattle yards!!) are completed, there will be more scrap ends and I'll raise it higher again.  I'm getting older and a bit broken physically, so anything we can do to make the job easier is of value to our future selves.

I didn't want to buy in soil to fill the boxes.  I've heard stories of soil that had some sort of poison in that killed anything planted in it and not even weeds or grass would grow there. Plus all the constant stories of oxalis or similar growing rampant in bought soils.  I've been working to build up my own soil.  I'm  composting as I'm planting in it.  Hubby cleaned out the gutters, so I put that in.  We cleaned the chookhouses, so I put that in.  Fireplace ash and lawn clippings.  I'm ensuring that I dig it into the existing soil and mix it up in diagonal layers.  Leaf Litter and roadkill are also going in shortly - the roadkill will be well buried of course.

Hubby built some covered planter boxes to protect my broccoli and cauliflower from the brassica moths a few years ago.  This has worked well, although I have to be careful to pick them before they grow through the netting.  It also keeps my feral hen that thinks she's the dog's pet (long story) out of them too.

The dags and bellies from shearing and the neps and double cuts I find when spinning wool are the base for my path, covered with wood mulch.  Some of the wood that has been mulched is probably too fresh to put directly in the garden, but it can work for this year in the path.

I'm buying plants and seeds in small amounts when I see them available.  I'm trying to keep it manageable to plant and maintain.  So far, my humble vege garden is boasting broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, beetroot, onions, peas, boysenberries and strawberries.  I'll plant some beans in the next few months and Hubby's patch is always filled with self-sown potatoes - I know we didn't get them all last year.  Wow.  I didn't realise the variety I had until I typed it in just now.

While I have struggled in recent years to find something to grow that both Hubby and I will eat - as I usually grow too much for just one of us - I am now growing for my wider family too.  This makes it easier to select and makes for some small economies of scale when I'm buying plants.

We are making plans and organising materials for the next stage.  Watch this space!