Downsizing
It has been drawn to my attention that I don’t need to grow as much food as I was now that our hollow legs have flown the nest. We are getting used to life as empty nesters and the teen lads are flourishing out in the world. So, I am no longer a Mum providing for my family. It would seem I’ve become something else. You could say I’m an avid fan of growing vegetables, maybe I’m addicted to gardening, or I’ve been converted to the ‘fresh is best’ movement. Actually, I’m not sure if there is a ‘fresh is best’ movement – it just sounded good in my head and maybe there should be one because fresh is indeed best.
I have been strongly encouraged – by Hubby the Un-Gardener to reduce the produce coming out of the garden. I not sure where his motives lie – an abundance of care and concern for my wellbeing having to deal with the demands of my full-size garden in the height of the season, or maybe he is acutely aware we have too much on our plates and keeping up with a squillion zucchini isn’t something he’s interested in. Whatever it is, I think I’ve decided it is time to downsize the garden.
It is a good thing to avoid the horrendously expensive offerings at the store, especially with the basics. But I also enjoy the benefits of living like kings and overindulging in a glut of something considered gourmet. As a home grower it is also wonderful to try the strange and unusual that can’t easily be found elsewhere. Variety is the spice of life.
Maybe the garden is too big, but it’s not like I grow excessive amounts of anything, the garden is large because I like to grow lots of different things. So, I have to ask myself the hard question – where I can make the cut?
The first wave of review has been to look at the garden as a whole to see where I can reduce my efforts. For example, I don’t need 5m2 of peas or 4 m2 beans – especially as I don’t enjoy green beans all that much and have enough dried beans on hand that we are still working our way through the harvest from the season before. Having said that I created a file on interesting, dried bean recipes that we intentionally pick from once every couple of weeks and the beans are proving to be a delish addition to our menu rota now we don’t have to worry too much about fussy mouths reluctant to experiment.
Some of the cuts have been logical and easy to make, however others are a little harder to part with, but needs must. Of the crops I’m determine not to chop, sweetcorn, onion, brassica, leafy greens, garlic and popcorn, spuds, and peppers get to go through to the next round unscathed, although I’ve promised myself less spicy peppers this time round. Having said that I always say that and end up with several varieties that will set your world on fire! But each of these go a long way to being part of a year’s supply. Sweetcorn vac packed and popped in the freezer within moments of harvest will bring a sweet ray of sunshine to a gloomy winter day.
My tomatoes have been hit and miss since we came here, so I will be looking at fewer plants and maybe determinant and early varieties to avoid the pest and disease pressure that drives me crazy. In the reduced space I’ll move eggplants into the gap, freeing up room in the odds and sods bed for something new and exciting – flying in the face of the downsize. I wonder if I should give jicama a go?
As mentioned the peas and beans, as legumes will now share a bed and that shouldn’t interfere with the crop rotation I agonised over when I set it in motion. I’ll try to grow less pumpkins and probably stick to the smaller ones. As empty nesters it seems ridiculous to have a massive pumpkin with a small slither removed from it, sitting in the fridge inviting us to have pumpkin every night until it is gone. I have made some steps towards this process and moved the raspberries into one of the pumpkin beds to offer more protection from the wind in the hopes of actually getting a berry taster.
I could probably reduce the salad bed to a tighter space and be more onto it with the succession planting so there is always something there. I have no excuse other than my own procrastination to not have salad leaves available all year round.
Zucchini is another dilemma – half a plant is probably adequate. But I like that I can grow the deeply green Blackjack and bright yellow Solar Flare, and they contrast so nicely together on the plate and in a jar. I have discovered excess zucchini makes and excellent soup and when portioned up into individual servings and frozen, is a perfectly heartwarming winter lunch.
My melon and cucumber harvests have been ridiculous – in a good season just one plant is more than enough. I think I can curb this abundance by growing smaller sized cucumbers so even if it produces the same number of fruit, there is less actual cucumber to deal with. There needs to be less gherkins as well – I don’t need to feed pickles to voracious pickle eaters anymore. And as tempting as it is to grow a watermelon with yellow flesh – that admittedly was sweet and delish, they just get too big, and I should stick with the smaller sugar babies which are more user friendly for our season in life.
In an effort to downsize I have given a garden bed to my wonderful Mother-in-Law, who after downsizing and retiring herself has found her passion for growing has been restricted by space at her place. This is a win win because it means she has the perfect excuse to drop by for a visit and we’d love that.
So, I have removed about 18m2 from the overall garden productivity and hopefully made the garden and the harvest more manageable. The thing is… now what do I do with the empty space – I can’t just leave it empty. Do I need a long-term plan to redesign the garden to shuffle things about and actually remove the unneeded space? Or do I look to grow something else? Do I leave the beds fallow and allow the land to heal? These are all interesting questions. I think maybe this season, while I ponder the issue, I’ll pop in a bunch of colourful garden centre annuals. There are decisions to be made.
Come again soon – the next step in the downsizing plan is to pick varieties and gather seeds.
Sarah the Gardener : o)
You’ve got asparagus and strawberries growing already? Wasn’t long ago you prepped your asparagus bed. I’m envious.
Ahh, no. That was a harvest basket from last spring. I still have a bit of a wait before I can enjoy those again. : o)
Goodness, it is not easy. I wanted to grow all the stone fruit that I remember from the orchards of the Santa Clara Valley, but to do so, I need to keep the trees abusively small. Canning, drying and sharing can not utilize all the surplus otherwise. Now, I ‘somehow’ ended up with about seventeen cultivars of banana. One is too many.
I wish I could have all the fruit trees too! Too many bananas is an interesting problem to have! : o)
‘Interesting’ is a polite way of describing it. We got Musa ingens, which is the biggest banana tree in the World. Because individual ‘trunks’ do not last long, they need space around them to fall when we cut them down. We can not climb them to cut them in pieces, and we can not direct their fall.
Over the years, I’ve downsized several times and then regretted it and created more space. Now I always have a couple of empty or spare beds just in case I need the room. There’s nothing wrong with having empty beds throughout the growing season.
I think this is where I’m going with it for now – having empty beds, maybe filled with low maintenance annual flowers. I don’t have the time or inclination at this point to completely remove the beds and so this is just a first ‘toe dip’ into the smaller space to see how it works. Thanks for your encouraging insight. : o)