Ohhhh…. Here we are on the eve of the most exciting gardening weekend in the entire calendar. More exciting that the sweet sensation of that first strawberry, crunch of the first pea or the delight that comes from the first sun warmed tomato eaten right there in the garden. This weekend is like all of those things combined and more. It is the weekend that has the green light for go. The risk of frost is all but behind us and it is an extra-long weekend with a national holiday on Monday for Labour Weekend thrown in for good measure and if the weather plays fair we have 3 whole days to plant the garden out! I’m so excited just thinking about it.
It was touch and go whether my garden would be ready, but it has been 12 days since that last flood incident and there hasn’t been rain since. Well there has been a few drops here and there, but they don’t count. So, I’ve managed to sort out most of the beds – well … the ones that matter the most. The soil is in that sweet spot where it is dry enough to be crumbly, but damp enough to reassure me my seedlings will settle in well. My tender seedlings have been hardened off and we are good to go.
I love to stand back and look about at all these empty beds, with fluffy soil ready to go. There is so much potential waiting to happen. It also looks quite tidy and fresh – like a table set for dinner. Come January the plants will be lolling all over the place, the weeds will be attempting to take over and the very edges will begin to look a little manky as the beginning of the end sets in. Kind of like that same table during dinner – half eaten meals, smudges on the tablecloth where small hands have been wiped and a spill or two of gravy across the top. But for now, this is the fresh start and it will be a good season because it just has to be.
I think I will start by creating the structures my plants need to support them as they grow. It is always best to do this before planting things as you find you need to stomp about the place to get them just right. There is also the risk of damaging fragile roots as you drive stakes in beside plants so it is much better to do it the other way round.
Once I’ve created all the structures and created the skeleton of my garden for the season, I will then with great care and excitement, plant the seedlings I have cossetted and nurtured for so long. It always feels weird to me to just plop them in the ground and leave them there, but it is what needs to happen and I have many plants to plant. It will take several joyful hours, if I savour the moment and take special care of each and every one.
As I head off to bed tonight I will be like a kid on Christmas eve, barely able to sleep because of the fun to come in the morning.
Come again soon – there’s so much fun to be had!
Sarah the Gardener : o)
Awesome update and hope the weather holds for you so you can get all the plants in the ground
Unfortunately the weather packed up and it has been a bit cold and miserable, but that is ok, the garden will still get planted out eventually! : o)
Oh have fun. Can’t wait to see the planted out pictures 😀 x
I am being a bit wary – the weather has been a bit miserable today and so I don’t want to race ahead just because I want to – I need to do what is right for the plants. Nothing like gardening to force you to slow down to natures pace! : o)
So true. We’ve all made the mistake of letting enthusiasm carry us away only to discover that Ma Nature has one last surprise in store for us 😀 Hope the weather settles soon and let’s you get your plants out safely x
I, too, love the start of the season and all the freshly planted veg. It’s a great feeling.
There is so much hope loaded into all of those empty beds. I do hope we get a good season after all the rain we have had. : o)
Those are a lot of tomatoes!, but it looks like yo have the space for them. You might put more work into delivering so much fruit to the neighbors than into growing them!
Only half of them will go in the ground. The other half are backups in case things go horribly wrong after planting. There will be 20 that go in in the end, and this is enough to keep us in tomatoes all year – I freeze them whole and just used the last of last years ones today in a heart warming tomato soup. : o)
We buy our plants already grown in cell packs. We only get about a dozen because they make SO much fruit. We would grow them if we wanted to try a different variety that is not available in the nursery. I do not have refrigeration, so we just can them
Hmm our weather here certainly isn’t cooperating! I am a fair weather gardener only, so no planting for me today!
I’ve heard it predicted that this summer is going to be dry. Do you collect your own water, or are you on town supply?
This hasn’t exactly been the best weekend to have a long weekend! The weather hasn’t been very nice today at all!
We are fortunate enough to have our own bore and we collect the rain off the roof. After moaning for the last 9 months about the rain I have promised myself I wouldn’t moan if we had things too dry this summer. : o)