Self care by growing a garden

Hi Peoples.

I've been out getting my hands dirty planting pea seedlings. I have a whole lot of out of date seeds, so I've been going through and having a try at seeing if they'll grow anyway... with reasonable success. 🙂 Low germination rates for some of them, but I'm getting at least a few up from each planting.

The peas were started off in cardboard rolls (from loo paper) so that I could keep them in a lidded mesh basket, away from rodents. They're big enough now that they should be safe, but I've put rocks at the bases of the plants so that they don't get scratched out by blackbirds instead!

My baby tomato plants are home from my sister's place. None of the winged pea or zuchinni seeds I planted have come up, but they're the only outright "failures" so far. And I have more seeds of each, so I can try again.

Potatoes and Jerusalem Artichokes have sprouted. Lots of flowers are coming out. Heaps of Aquilegias, the first Dutch Irises I've had for years, and assorted poppies. A few old fashioned white bearded irises have flowered, the fancier coloured ones are getting close. Love this time of year. 🙂

not self-care - but a year ago I brought home 2 tomato seedlings for my bipolar/aspy/ptsd partner in the hope of giving him a reason to get out of bed some mornings.

Now the entire back yard is under cultivation and some of the front!

Currently we have:

Current harvesting: cherry tomatoes, malabar spinach, dutch corn salad (like butter lettuce), corn, garlic, green beans, snake beans, strawberries, carrots, onions

The pumpkin has been fruiting continuously since just before last Christmas

Herbs: parsley, sage, rosemary & thyme (obviously), mint, dill, oregano, basil, chives, thai basil (corriander just won't take).

Just finished: Broccolini, peas, beetroot & carrots, grosse lisse tomatoes, english spinach, tatsoi, watercress (cress, tatsoi & broccolini we let go to seed deliberately) and beetroot.

In the making: chillis (plants now pruned and ready for next flowering), garlic, capsicum, cucumbers, more beetroot, carrots & onions, zucchini, pak choy - and a few other leafy's.

be careful what you wish for..... 🙂

Self care for your partner from the sounds of things @SJT63 😁. I must admit I do smile when I see someone growing veg in their front yard.

Hope it is saving you $$ in groceries. Do you dry/ freeze/ preserve in some way the excess?

I love it when I grow enough to share with others.

Coriander does better in cooler weather (less inclined to bolt to seed).

@Former-Member I dry, freeze and bottle

I've had a pressure canner on order for months now because I can't can do veg in the fowlers vacola.

Yes I bring produce into work for my colleages from time to time - particulary when the leafy greans are on.

At my place almost everything is made from scratch (not just food) except at the moment I'm buying the hard cheese and pasta because I also work full time and there's only so many hours in the day. I don't have room for livestock so protein is bought direct from the farm gate, not the supermarket.

All our grey water is used on the garden and we harvest rain from the patio and shed roof - when it rains - and that water goes through the washing machine before it hits the garden. I have a large solar array so I only use the power hungry equipment on the weekends when I'm home during the day.

One thing that himself and I always agree on is trying to minimise our footprint.

@SJT63. love the sound of your garden! 🙂

Mine has been similarly full in the past, has been let go for a few years due to carer committments and plain exhaustion. (Plus a dose of depression..) I'm working on getting it back up to speed... reclaiming beds that had gone to weeds.

I've grown corn salad previously, still have some seeds left to try again. My "weird lettuce" the last couple of years has been Miners Lettuce. It looks like something that landed from another planet, and happily self seeds. It's a winter/early spring thing, doesn't like warmer weather.

@Former-Member, my front yard would have you smiling too. Front yard, back yard, side yard... who cares, it's all soil.
On the odd occasion, it's also been naturestrip...

@SJT63 @Smc

@SJT63 @Smc

While my veg patch has not extended to the front yard I am so pleased with our kitchen garden beds. None of the veggies we planted in them are ready for harvesting yet.

Whilst not in the same league as you SJT, since moving into our new place we have put in solar and built the veg beds/ planted fruit trees. Ongoing, at least 3/4 of our furniture is 2nd hand, we make our own bread and we try and minimise vehicle use.

I've made bread in the past @Former-Member, but nowadays only pull out the yeast for pizza bases. But the memories of homemade bread have rubbed off into a "can do" attitude for our older "kids", who've all followed suit one way or another since moving out of home. Need to get back to it often enough that Younger Daughter gets to pick up the skill as well.

I think most of our furniture is second hand. If you're just a little bit choosy over what you get, it's generally better quality than new stuff. Which is, of course, why it's lasted long enough to be resold.

No solar panels at this point in time. We need to get the roof re-done first... and before we do that, the house needs restumping. So that can wait for now.

Have been outside this morning potting on some tomato seedligs that have reached the "true leaf" stage. 🙂 Planning on more weeding this afternoon. The big flush of spring flowers is starting to kick in, and they look so much nicer when they're not swamped by grass heads... 😛 I'm piling all the weeds up on paths where they can rot down into nice compost, and suppress other weeds. I think the seed heads are immature enough that they won't regrow. Even if they do, they'll be in an easy-to-clear spot.