Hoe'in around.
I've always liked the idea of being self-sustaining. Being able to grow my own food. Well, this is where the self-sustaining dream gets a little tough for me. I have no experience.
I first moved out of my parent's home at the age of 19 and into an apartment with a friend. At Christmastime, I got a little poinsettia. Two days later, it died. So then I got a little cactus. Yes, I also killed a cactus. From here, I became a tad scared of keeping green living things around. I should have realized the apartment was far too dark for anything to live in happily. The next place we lived in was much brighter, but by then I was far too engrossed with school that I did not find the time to play with plants.
Out here in SK, Bear's and my first place was a rental so we started small in the plant world. Throughout the winter, I managed not to kill a corn plant and some lucky bamboo. Along with these plants, my confidence grew (oh my, I'm hilarious). Now that we are in a place of our own with a load of land, we got ambitious. I was very excited to have my own vegetable garden. I thought we'd start small in our first year... see how well we do and if we were able to keep simple vegetables alive. I pictured a humble 10' x 10' plot. I came home to a 20' x 40' plot.
At first I was overwhelmed but then thought it through. We're in this together, I thought to myself, we can handle it. I thought that until Bear handed me a hoe and asked me to dig rows. What?! How does one hoe? I've seen countless pictures but how does one actually hoe a row? Bear laughed at me for quite a while. I guess he didn't realize how naïve about gardening I really was! After his fit of laughter, he showed me the proper usage of the tool. I had to take over because his rows were crooked and that was enough inspiration to suck up my hoe fears and get going.
Now that the veggies are planted, I've been trying to battle the damn weeds. Seriously, how do these suckers grow so fast?! Until last night, the garden looked like a sad patch of grass and thistle with some tomato plants. Sad. Well, at least I can grow something! In the prairie heat I pulled weeds until I could not pull anymore. Of course I decide to garden on the first real day of summer out here. Sunstroke? Naw. I kept hydrated with a refreshing mix of fruit punch and tequila. Yep, I was asleep by 9pm. Thank's José .
Amidst the lush weeds, I managed to find radishes, carrots and lettuce growing quite wonderfully. The sunflowers on the border are doing well too. I have a garden! Success!
I first moved out of my parent's home at the age of 19 and into an apartment with a friend. At Christmastime, I got a little poinsettia. Two days later, it died. So then I got a little cactus. Yes, I also killed a cactus. From here, I became a tad scared of keeping green living things around. I should have realized the apartment was far too dark for anything to live in happily. The next place we lived in was much brighter, but by then I was far too engrossed with school that I did not find the time to play with plants.
Out here in SK, Bear's and my first place was a rental so we started small in the plant world. Throughout the winter, I managed not to kill a corn plant and some lucky bamboo. Along with these plants, my confidence grew (oh my, I'm hilarious). Now that we are in a place of our own with a load of land, we got ambitious. I was very excited to have my own vegetable garden. I thought we'd start small in our first year... see how well we do and if we were able to keep simple vegetables alive. I pictured a humble 10' x 10' plot. I came home to a 20' x 40' plot.
At first I was overwhelmed but then thought it through. We're in this together, I thought to myself, we can handle it. I thought that until Bear handed me a hoe and asked me to dig rows. What?! How does one hoe? I've seen countless pictures but how does one actually hoe a row? Bear laughed at me for quite a while. I guess he didn't realize how naïve about gardening I really was! After his fit of laughter, he showed me the proper usage of the tool. I had to take over because his rows were crooked and that was enough inspiration to suck up my hoe fears and get going.
Amidst the lush weeds, I managed to find radishes, carrots and lettuce growing quite wonderfully. The sunflowers on the border are doing well too. I have a garden! Success!
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