My Very Own (one-fourth) Garden
The past almost four years in Wrangell (and elsewhere) have been years of firsts – first time reporting, first time fishing, first time picking berries and making jam, first time eating whale, first time baking a cheesecake, first time being on the radio, first time living with a boyfriend, first time seeing a bear, first time fly-fishing, first time making sushi, first time knitting, first time being in a float plane, first time flying a plane, first time hearing live bluegrass music, first time country swing dancing, first time seeing the northern lights… the list could go on and on. This summer, I’ve added something else to that list – first time gardening.
On the way to the beach one day in May, I walked by Matt’s house. Matt and Bob were in Matt’s front yard digging out knotweed to clear a spot to garden, and they asked if I wanted to help and be part of the effort. I said, “Sure,” and from that day on I’ve tried my hardest to acquire a green thumb. Jen is the other person involved with the garden and her gardening instincts are just that – instincts – whereas my gardening knowledge comes from what I’ve been told. For a while, I was nervous about picking weeds because what if I picked something that was supposed to be growing. I helped Jen do the initial seeding in the garden and I recall being in total disbelief that anything would pop out of the ground, that all it took was dirt, a seed, some water, and faith.
And things did grow, from the seeds and from starts that we added later. Now we have three different types of kale, bok choy, arugula, collard greens, green onion, broccoli, peas, and swiss chard. What we’re still looking forward to are carrots, beets, potatoes, cabbage, and cauliflower. At my own house, I’ve been caring for three tomatoes plants that were given to me. One of them has already produced over 15 of the tastiest cherry tomatoes you can imagine, and the other two are just starting to fruit.
Here’s the spot of land after the knotweed was picked and it was raked through a few times:
Here’s the garden about a month ago:
Here it is today:
I cooked these collard greens last week with bacon:
And here are some peas. They’ve just started to really come in:
On the way to the beach one day in May, I walked by Matt’s house. Matt and Bob were in Matt’s front yard digging out knotweed to clear a spot to garden, and they asked if I wanted to help and be part of the effort. I said, “Sure,” and from that day on I’ve tried my hardest to acquire a green thumb. Jen is the other person involved with the garden and her gardening instincts are just that – instincts – whereas my gardening knowledge comes from what I’ve been told. For a while, I was nervous about picking weeds because what if I picked something that was supposed to be growing. I helped Jen do the initial seeding in the garden and I recall being in total disbelief that anything would pop out of the ground, that all it took was dirt, a seed, some water, and faith.
And things did grow, from the seeds and from starts that we added later. Now we have three different types of kale, bok choy, arugula, collard greens, green onion, broccoli, peas, and swiss chard. What we’re still looking forward to are carrots, beets, potatoes, cabbage, and cauliflower. At my own house, I’ve been caring for three tomatoes plants that were given to me. One of them has already produced over 15 of the tastiest cherry tomatoes you can imagine, and the other two are just starting to fruit.
Here’s the spot of land after the knotweed was picked and it was raked through a few times:
Here’s the garden about a month ago:
Here it is today:
I cooked these collard greens last week with bacon:
And here are some peas. They’ve just started to really come in:
posted by Siapiau | 2:38 PM
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