When I moved back to our family home, I knew it was finally the time in my life to really try out gardening. It was one of those things I knew I would be interested in one day but it was never that day.
Until it was.
I was so pumped to grow vegetables in our enclosed garden. I dreamed about planning it on long winter nights by the fireside, plotting out the beds and what I’d like to grow. I could envision harvesting and enjoying all the pickled cucumbers I could make, the fresh basil pairing with ripe tomatoes and mozzarella with balsamic drizzled on top.
Then the reality of it hit and it was too much, honestly. I ended up abandoning the already abandoned enclosed garden.
If I were to get into the distillation of absinth, however, I would have had a bumper crop of wormwood to do so. I decided against it because I didn’t have the space in either the garage or the basement to set up a distillery (watch this space for more about the travails of cleaning out our family home!). I’m also not sure it’s a hobby I want to pursue, so there's that.
I’m sorry to confess that the enclosed garden was an eyesore. While I wasn’t tackling pulling the weeds in it, I was dreaming of ways to bulldoze it down and create a nice pebbled courtyard patio. We are very imaginative over here.
But then, one day, my wonderful Beau came and rescued me. Being the Knight in Shining Armor that he is, he partnered with me to pull those weeds and clean out the garden beds and paths. It was the motivation I needed to finish the project, expand it to the driveway weeds and keep it more or less tidy. Tidier.
We decided to keep the structure for now and try to use those beds again next year. I’m going to try growing my wild meadow cutting flower garden in there since the groundhog babies ate my seeds in the other bed right outside their front door. I’d also like to grow some cucumbers and maybe tomatoes. I think it would be fun to also try growing some winter squashes. What do you think of a pumpkin patch?
We also may get some chickens and the enclosed structure would be perfect for them.
There are so many dreams dancing around my mind that I’m a bit all over the place with this one. And I apologize for that because it’s confusing and chaotic.
For now, though, I will be prepping the beds for the winter. We have lime for the soil and I will be adding organic material as green manure to help in adding back some of the depleted nutrients. I think that’s about all I can handle for now. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that taking on more than you can handle doesn’t help anyone.
