March 2020 Backyard Garden Journal: Getting my Hands Dirty
Spring is in full force here in the Atlanta area. The thick coating of pollen has started fully covering everything in the last week or so, and the bees are back out buzzing from flower to flower. I’m feeling quite grateful that we are going through the current worldly concerns at least at a time of year when the reminder of new growth and rebirth is all around. Sometimes it is just the small things that make all the difference, or as one of my dear friends is focusing on, the silver linings in even the darkest of times. Enough about any darkness, though, as this post is all about the good things going on in our very humble backyard garden!
First, a quick farmers market update. I am also extremely grateful of my local farmers for continuing to adapt to still offer up their harvest during the Coronavirus pandemic. I was able to order online from four of the wonderful farms for pickup this morning. The market is officially closed, but many of the farms have created online shops to pre-order and take care of payment with no physical contact. Then they bag up orders individually for pickup where everyone can maintain proper distancing. Of course it requires more plastic than I would like, but still much less waste and safer than grocery store produce. It is of paramount importance to keep supporting local businesses during these times as they won’t get the big bailouts that the huge corporations often get.
Of course I was ecstatic to get my hands on some of the very first strawberries of the season! My farmer pal Lynn had a small offering for us to enjoy. Though there is a strong possibility that we will miss out on doing any U-Pick this year (well, except for in our own yard), I will gladly purchase as much as possible of the fresh, seasonal berries from my farmers as nothing at the stores ever compares. These will be lucky to make it past the weekend…
Speaking of strawberries, I shared a peek at our little patch the other day, but they are looking more robust by the hour! We had transplanted this plant from an existing patch of a family friend last fall, so it has been wonderful to see it coming to life this spring. There is another small plant in one of the new container bins that the boyfriend is trying out that is also just starting to flower, but this plant above has tons of blossoms when you start pulling back the leaves to see! Now I just need to make sure my mint doesn’t creep in and overtake my berries.
Luckily the berries aren’t requiring much work right now, but we have plenty other seedlings going that require some more time and attention. Tomatoes are coming up from my rareseeds.com order earlier in the year.
We also got a nice starter plant from the boyfriend’s cousin that he already planted. This one below is a cherry tomato I believe. Some of the larger tomato varieties have not done as well for us in the past, but the smaller varieties tend to give us a good harvest. I have some more cherry tomato seeds we’ll get going shortly, too.
He also got our first attempt at some different beans going this morning while we were outside getting our hands dirty. Quite a few varieties of cowpeas and runner beans tend to grow quite well in our climate, so fingers crossed we get a decent harvest on our first attempt!
Besides my mint and lemon balm exploding as usual, the oregano had gotten quite out of hand. That was my project for the morning–pulling it back out of the bed that it had started creeping into. I am currently dehydrating some to use for cooking, but I am also going to try to make a tincture out of the bounty. @nateonsteemit had encouraged me to harvest catkins from the local pine trees to make a tincture the other day, so I figured why not add oregano to my slowly growing herbal medicine cabinet? Perhaps I’ll do a separate post about that as oregano has soooo many health benefits. Plus this will be my first time making a tincture!
Most of the other beds are pretty barren until we transfer our seedlings over. There is some more turmeric that we wintered underneath the leaves in the big pallet bed that the BF made last year, so hopefully we’ll see some shoots popping up soon as it starts to grow. I was really pleased to have that nutrient powerhouse fresh from the ground last year. Now we need to try growing ginger as it is another flavor I love using in my cooking and for the health benefits. Not to mention both of those can be pricey, so very nice to have in abundant free supply!
I suppose that should just about do it for this round of an update. We are still quite the amateurs in the gardening sphere, but it is quite fun to continue to try new things and see how much we can grow on our own. As many people have mentioned, now more than ever is a great time to reduce our reliance on big chains and imported goods as much as we can. Gardening is an excellent lockdown activity if nothing else, and a great way to get some fresh air if you can!
Thanks to my pal @simplymike for keeping the Garden Journal Challenge fun going on the Hive blockchain! I always have fun seeing what everyone else is growing and learning from all the collective expertise. Happy growing everyone!
