My Thanksgiving trip to Southern California was a wonderful break from beautiful and now familiar Happy Valley – all 70 acres of it! Yes, it was a relaxing escape from day-to-day duties, and upon return, I have jumped back into the gardening game with more vigor and excitement. I suppose the life-time practicality and opportunity of designing a garden and growing my own food is finally really dawning on me.
Yes, I said “designing a garden.” Okay, this seems naturally necessary. For weeks, no – months! I have been wrestling with my creative imagination, cooing it gently and somewhat frustratedly out of its hibernation, to assist me in designing a wonderfully productive, attractive, and sensible garden design to span 8,000 square feet. Boss Lady Tess has had quite a hand in this process, gently guiding me into the fields of possibility. She even got me to whip out a giant piece of paper and draw out some plans, forfeiting any precision of measurements (oh the agony!). it has been fruitful in the end and I have finally produced a plan I can look at without cringing, measurements evident down to the inch.
I won’t give away the plan just now, as much as I would like to share a picture with you here. Just know that this (possible) plan does require the displacement of grand quantities of dirt. That’s right. Get excited.
In the meantime, I have been working on some things I can share with you.
Though the green beans I planted in August have only produced a handful of beans before an unfortunate freeze, a few beans managed to produce some hard beans – fit for planting! So that’s just what I’ve done. It’s far too cold outdoors for beans, however, my room happens to have a conveniently large window facing the sun all day. My room is practically a greenhouse, so naturally I’ve decided to capitalize upon this great fortune.
I planted the two beans November 22, and on the 2nd, I spotted sprouts! I will keep these beans inside for the duration of their life, happily harvesting as it produces. Today it rained, so it only made sense to take advantage of the free water.
I’ve been attending to some other plant starts, as well. Ginger can be cut up and replanted to grow even more ginger root. The top left in the picture below is a cookie “tin” crammed with chopped ginger root half-submerged in water, with the potential root sprouts facing out of the water. I could let these soak simply overnight before planting into the ground, or I could wait to plant them until shoots begin to grow.
The smallest container is filled with vermiculite. Under the container is its lid, filled with water. The container has a few holes pierced in the bottom. The vermiculite soaks up the water better than I ever knew, and atop I have placed 4 precious tomato seeds. More vermiculite is sprinkled on top, and over the course of several days, hopefully I will watch the little seeds sprout. Once the first two leaves of each form, I will transplant them into bigger containers, destined for greatness. I know it isn’t yet time for tomatoes, but I just can’t wait, and I suspect I’ll be able to sustain them in my greenhouse of a room.
I’ll keep you updated on the Greenhouse Room successes and failures, and maybe in the next couple of weeks we’ll have a garden plan all figured out.
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