May Gardens Grow

Although I have given up on my garden to a great extent ( see this post for the back story for my grief-talk), Mark soldiers on with his. In fact this year, he constructed a raised bed to improve and expand his prior garden design. One year we decided to order our tomato plants from Burpee and we’ve done so ever since. We began this practice the year after I started everything from seed and then most of our majestic six-foot plants were tragically struck down by the Downy White Mildew Blight. Heirlooms go first. Hybrids don’t bat an eye.

This incident is one of my reasons for my heartbreak and grief in the garden. But not Mark. He get’s such enjoyment from the planning and the production, giving away more than half our yield to friends, neighbors, and in state relatives, that he couldn’t stop even if he wanted to. Veggie Junkies have been created. He needs to feed their dependency.

The new bed was planted perpendicular to the old bed and so there was a bit of the old bed left. My son Eamon really mostly hates anything that gets his hands dirty or is remotely related to “yard work”. So having him help has been really disappointing at best. But this year I said he needed to plant a wildflower garden in the old bed and he said “yes”. The trick is to figure out everyone’s GAS. I said we would draw a map. He was excited.

I had a fist full of seed packages that had waited to be thought of. Some were old wildflower mixes. While I had two coreopsis, some zinnias, Echinacea, and a random bag of blossoms from a dried up celosia plants from my Mother-in-laws. I have no idea if any of them will germinate. But I told Eamon to divide the garden into quadrants and the map them out. So this is what he made.

We are hoping that Fiona is bitten by the gardening bug. So far though, Mark had to convince her that worms don’t bite. And every time she sees a bee she says “Ow”. There’s still hope for his garden help and my kitchen assistant though. Some teeny tiny garden gloves and an apron might need to be added to the dress-up chest soon.

The Snap peas and zucchini (courgettes), as well as the swiss chard and garlic have all been reported doing well. There seems to be some concern over the cucumbers however. I’ll keep you posted. Happy gardening!

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