My Garden for 2023: Growing Hope!

- My dwarf Marigolds to help ward off some pests

“There's something satisfying about getting your hands in the soil.”
― E.A. Bucchianeri, Vocation of a Gadfly.
Source

- Cherokee Purple Tomatoes surrounded by Marigold!

How my garden started

This is Cherokee Purple, my partner really wanted to try and grow heirlooms this year. They’ve never really done it before so we picked up a couple from the store. I don’t really have space to grow from scratch. We ended up buying some already pre-sprouted babies!

If we wouldn't have gone to the store just to browse, we wouldn't have gotten this garden started. Sometimes life throws a hint at you and maybe you should take that hint, it might make for something interesting to happen. I love gardening because it really focuses on listening as a skill and the quiet sense of accomplishment from finishing a crop to completion is a feeling that I just don't get anywhere else.

- Pink Brandywine Tomato plant with Marigolds also. We only brought one trellis with us, we'll have to pick up another

Troubles of Heirlooms

This is Pink Brandywine, my partner was really excited about this one although a bit nervous. Heirlooms have a tendency to split and aren’t usually disease or pest resistant. But I have confidence in my abilities to grow them well. We have them set up in self watering containers, splitting shouldn’t be an issue because of that. And just keeping an eye on them for pests and disease will be as simple as checking on them every day!

- Lemon plants for my lemon tea!

Delicious Herbs for Tea

This container is set up with all my lemon flavored plants that I love. Lemongrass, lemon balm, lemon verbena, and lemon thyme. That’s a lot of lemon! I love to drink hot tea and these herbs will be a great addition to my daily tea cups! We'll see if they fit well with other dishes. I imagine these herbs would pair well with white fish.

- I have two varieties of strawberries, both are ever-bearing

Don't Give Up if Things Don't Work Out

I’ll have my second attempt at growing strawberries. The first year that I did it, squirrels ate them all! I guess I should have ate the squirrels! Jokes aside, I’m not sure what to do about the squirrels eating my berries, I hope the containers being closer to my house with no trees near by will deter them. I may have to come up with alternative plans. Sometimes things just don't work out, when they don't try not to give up. If you give up, you'll never taste what success feels like.

- My project in the beginning, In between all the fun I forgot to take step by step photos!

Ran short of plants!

My last container isn’t full like the rest, I ran out of plants to put in the container so it’s got my left over marigolds, some lavender, and chocolate mint. I’ll pick up some plants from the store soon to fill it out with some plants like Russian sage, spearmint, and maybe parsley or some other cooking herb. Although it's not complete, most gardens never are. And that's okay. Not everything needs a dotted i or a crossed t, sure it can be satisfying but it's not the end of the world if things aren't perfect.

“Gardening is easier than it is often made out to be.”
― Charles Dowding, Charles Dowding's Skills for Growing
Source

All in all, this isn’t the most exciting garden I’ve ever planted, but it’s a fun one. I’ll be doing it with my partner who has never showed much interest in gardening. That’s very exciting for me, more so than growing the plants. Spending time with the ones you love is like gardening to me. Growing and deepening the bonds between you. If you can't get out and grow a plant, go out and grow a relationship with someone you love.

As always, thanks for listening to my story and me rambling about stuff. I always appreciate every interaction, no matter how small it may be. I love the Hive community and all of you who put effort into making it a good place to be in. Have a good one, thanks so much!

If you've read this far, I would enjoy any follows and will follow back. I want to build a community of love and kindness. We all deserve that.

With lots of love,
♥️ @timmy-turnip ♥️

All photos in this post are taken by me using any of the following:

iPhone 7 Plus
iPhone 12 Pro Max
Nikon D800 and a Macro Lense