Seed Starts

 Last year was the first year that I attempted to have a vegetable garden.

Actually, the attempt was pretty successful - I built six large planter boxes with my Uncle's guidance and encouragement, and got them installed on the south side of my property.  

I went on to plant Amish Paste tomatoes, various types of summer squash, several kinds of beans, strawberries, a couple winter squash plants, and later in the year, cabbage, spinach, and chard.

The squash grew unstoppably - all of it.  Winter or summer variety didn't matter, we couldn't keep up with it.  Being new to gardening and new to growing squash particularly, I made the mistake of thinking that "bigger is better" and let some large zucchini hybrids grow to monstrous size.  This of course made the flavor texture something similar to a cedar board, and it was almost by accident that I learned how much the fruit was improved by picking it at six inches instead of sixteen (nevermind that this was clearly spelled out on the seed packet).

Anyway it was a great experience, and I went into it with the benefit of twenty years' flyfishing experience - that is to say, I went into it knowing that new pursuits take time to master.  Sometimes a lot of time.  Even with my expectations set appropriately low, I'm happy with how the year went.

The first squash

One of the things I learned through trial and error last year is that there isn't much point in putting anything into the ground before the middle of May here.  Night temperatures are too cool.  All the plants I started on the first of April in '24 grew leggy and spindly before I could get them planted out, and even then they struggled on for another month before they started to grow well.  My beans in particularly never produced much.

This year I've waited three weeks longer than last to start my seeds.  It feels too late, and it may end up that it was, but I am hopeful for this year's garden!  

There's a lot of landscaping work to be done, and weeding, and irrigation repair/redesign.  I need to order gravel and build some sort of weed free base for the garden area.  On top of that I need to run irrigation to all the plants by the chicken coop, and develop a hidden irrigation system for our south deck, which is shamefully bare.

But today is a hopeful day because seeds are in soil and the mystery that is germination is at work.  

Here's to the garden of 2025!

Room for more, because you never know...