I’ve always been in awe of people with a super good ability to remember times past. Farmers especially seem to remember the exact year of every unusual weather event. Many a time I find myself listening to some old timer saying something like, “I remember that terrible storm in the summer of ‘82. It caused the river to overflow it’s banks by the bridge. A hell of a bad storm, that one!”
Was I around that year? Yep. Did it really happen? Probably. In ‘82? Darned if I know.
As is typical in the spring and summer, the talk now is all about gardens, and comparing one to the next. When did you plant? Why are so many planted seeds failing to germinate? What kind of critter is eating your seedlings? Weren’t the gardens further along this time last year? Have we ever had a June like this?
Every year is different. I usually manage to remember some portion of last year’s garden (usually the failures). But that’s as far as it goes. 10 years ago? Well I’m sure I had a garden but details are lost to my memory. I usually make a drawing of where stuff is planted so I can rotate the crops to different spots the next year, but I can never find where I put my garden map when the next year comes along. Ah well, this year I know I planted my sticks and strings on the May long weekend, and slowly got all the seeds into the ground by June 1st. Bedding plants came later, after the 7th. But today, July 1st, after many cool cloudy rainy days in June, I look at it and wonder. Will it manage to produce anything in the time left? Everything that’s going to come up has done so, but it seems slow, just barely getting going. If only I could remember what’s normal!
Something is eating my peas; they’re half gone. I planted 2 different section of carrots - one with new commercial seed, one with my own seed. One section came up sparse, the other thick as hair on a dogs back. But guess what? I can’t remember which is which. Then there’s the fact that one end of the garden in general seems to be less hardy. But I’m nearly 80 and it’s all hard work, so I’m not replanting anything that didn’t germinate. Maybe I’ll stick some marigold seeds in the empty spots. They’re beautiful, bees like them, and they make their own seed. Que sera, sera.
So, happy Canada Day! Here’s a pic of my garden struggling to get it together. At least next year I can look back in my photo gallery and compare it with the garden of ‘22. This pic will make many gardeners feel good about their plots. It’s not yet been tilled, just weeded between plants. The chickweed is thriving everywhere. I’ll post an update if it gets to growing, just so gardeners like myself, who are not perfect, can see it’s possible to grow food when you don’t pluck every weed in sight.
