July 12, 2013 8:12 pm
The Orphan Garden
Good Enough
A.V. Walters
The garden this year is an orphan garden. Though we planted it, and we care for it, it’s not really ours. We didn’t do our usual big production garden. We cheated and used older seeds (some of which never did germinate.) We transplanted volunteers and moved things around—so much so that now I’m not sure what’s what. Then, late in the game, one of the farm tenants dropped off two orphan tomatoes—of course, root bound, and those went in, too.
Still, watering and weeding it has been a pleasure. It’s that quiet, steady, work that inspires why I garden in the first place.
There’s a chicken in the garden this year—it happens sometimes that a chicken escapes the barn and sets up housekeeping in some corner. Usually nobody goes looking for them and they forage and do pretty well. This one likes snails. If I see that shiny, post-slime evidence of a snail on one of the plants, I root around in the bucket and find the culprit. I’ve been giving the snails to the chicken, and now she follows me around the garden. Somewhere over there, there are eggs, but I’m not looking.
The tomatoes (even the stragglers) are doing well and have baby green tomatoes hiding in a lacework of yellow flowers. The peppers are in bloom and the various squashes are all growing gangbusters. I just wish I knew what they were. I know there are pumpkins, zucchini, acorn, delicatta (my favorite), butternut and maybe crookneck squashes. I’m uncertain about the rest. The cucumbers (3 lemon and one regular) are filling out and reaching up for the sun. I think there’s a French melon plant in there, but only time will tell.
Unfortunately our hot spells have made the spinach bolt. We’re eating it up quick, before it gets too bitter. We’ve also had some of the basil, and some early sprigs of cilantro. The radishes are almost ready, though they’ve been beset by bugs, we’ll still eat them. Even if this is all it is, it is good enough.
We didn’t plant this garden with the intention of a harvest. We may never satisfy our curiosity about just what’s in those buckets. We know we’ll be moving, but we don’t know when (or exactly where, for that matter.) We’re packing and checking our plans, Plan A, Plan B and Plan C (even Plan C.5!) We’re selling things that don’t need to go with us. And we’re waiting. The waiting is the worst. We have business to finish here, and we’re not in charge of how quickly that will roll along.
In the meantime, there are emus and chickens to feed and gardens to tend…
Posted by avwalters
Categories: agriculture, farm life, season
Tags: agriculture, bucket farming, buckets, dry farming, gardening, good-enough, plants, rural living, weeding
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I can’t wait to get my vegetable garden in – but I guess finishing the house has to come first. My favourite ‘home grown’ is apple cucumber – oh, bliss! 😀
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By diannegray on July 13, 2013 at 12:13 pm
Well, you have some time yet. And you can’t work on the house all the time. A little gardening will clear the head. What’s apple cucumber? I’m actually looking forward to winter because it’s the time when I write. All this craziness in my life has put a damper on more creative pursuits.
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By avwalters on July 13, 2013 at 12:22 pm
Apple cucumber looks a bit like a white tennis ball. It’s beautifully sweet and the seeds are bigger than normal cucumbers but very delicious 😀
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By diannegray on July 13, 2013 at 12:39 pm
Ah, perhaps like our lemon cucumbers–whick looks like a yellow tennis ball–has great flavor and is nothing like lemons–except for appearance.
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By avwalters on July 13, 2013 at 2:37 pm