I headed out to the garden with two goals in mind – to weed the bed of pumpkins and beets and to amend the last bed and plant lettuce and spinach. I had been somewhat hopeful that we would get some volunteers to join us because there had been some interest expressed over social media, but alas, it was just Josie and me. But even though it was just the two of us, it was still a very productive day and on the bright side, we got to sing along to music while we worked. Silver linings.
When we first arrived at the garden, there a couple of surprises waiting for us, most of them good. In the pumpkin-and-beet bed, a second group of pumpkin seeds had sprouted and so had more of the beets! It was so exciting to see the three little pumpkin seedlings all clustered together, small leaves overlapping since all three seeds germinated together. I can’t help but fondly think of them like triplets, fighting for attention and space and sunlight. For now, I’m going to let them keep growing together, but in the next week or so, I’m going to see if I can dig out the two smallest sprouts and replant them so that they all have adequate space to grow. The thinning process, which I’m also going to have to do for the beet clusters, always hurts my heart a little bit because I hate to see anything growing have to get pulled early, but it does help ensure that the ones that are left do grow to be a decent size for eating. But for now I’m more than content to just marvel at the little miracles that are getting bigger and bigger before my eyes.
Another wonderful surprise was our sunflower sprouts! Forever ago at the beginning of August, we had one open bed and we wanted to plant some flowers to spice things up, so we put some sunflower seeds in the ground, marked them with sticks, and crossed our fingers. According to the little seed packet, we had missed the window for optimal planting, and as the weeks passed, it seemed like this was the case. I started to make plans for what else we could put in the bed instead since it was clear that nothing was growing from the seeds even though we had kept watering the bed and an eye out for anything remotely promising.
But when we arrived today and gave the bed a closer look, we noticed little sprouts where the markers stood! After two months, they finally emerged! I am so incredibly glad we had decided to leave that bed alone, that we kept watering it even when it seemed like nothing would grow. As much as I’m excited to see how big they’ll get, I’m also a bit worried now that fall is officially here and winter is just around the corner. After all this time, it would be so disheartening to see them finally start growing only for the cold weather to cut their lives short. I wonder if they would just stop growing if it got too cold and “hibernate”, or even die off completely? Could we dig them up and take them inside and then replant them in the spring? I guess I’ll just have to keep a close eye on them and see.
On a not-as-happy note, with all the rain we got over the last week, weeds are starting to poke through at the edges of the beds and in the walkways. Weeds are ridiculously relentless in how fast they spread and grow, so next week it’ll be a priority to get as many out as possible and put down another layer of woodchips. If even one person shows up to help, that’ll make that particular job go a lot faster.
Another job that would go faster is amending plant beds. Amending the one bed today took up most of the time since we were each working on separate tasks – I loosened and turned over dirt in half the bed while Josie weeded and then we switched. While we were adding compost to the soil, the Beacon photographer showed up and started taking photos and videos for the Beacon story which I am very excited to see knowing there’s going to be a great multimedia element incorporated into it. We dug little furrows in the soil and seeded half the bed with lettuce and the other half with spinach and gave it a good watering. I’m a little worried that I planted my seeds too deeply in the soil, but it should only take a week or two for them to sprout so I’m anticipating we’ll find out soon enough.
Planting seeds is always such a humbling feeling. While we do everything we can within our control to give these tiny dormant parcels of potential life the best chance of growing, whether or not they actually germinate inevitably falls into nature’s hands. There’s a conflicting sense of anticipation and anxiety since things won’t automatically grow overnight, if they grow at all. You’re hoping for the best with excitement about eventually enjoying the fruits (or vegetables) of your labor but also thinking about what to do in case nothing grows and how to deal with the disappointment if that is what happens. But just like with sunflowers, we’ll look after the bed with our fingers crossed and trust that nature will see them through the rest of the way.
