The Almost Fall Garden
Hi guys! Sorry it's been a little while since I've updated! But honestly, this is the downside to
A) Living in a rental
B) Having a limited amount of space to garden.
As I'm pretty sure you don't want to see minute by minute coverage of my seedlings thinking about whether or not they want to grow, I haven't updated.
And believe me, that's as frustrating for me as it is for you! I have no adorable chickens to update you on, no footage of the newest cutest thing my lil' Nigerian goats have accomplished, and no beehives to check up on. Hell, I don't even get to really dig into the ground (and sadly we have a LOT of it, all of which I'm not allowed to do ANYTHING to.)!
But I can here you all now.
"You said you were an urban homesteader! Why don't you just get animals?"
"Homesteaders make their own food too! Why aren't you filming yourself making bread or something?!"
"Don't you knit? Why aren't you knitting anything!? That seems like a homesteader thing!"
Okay....so. Here me out.
Being an urban homesteader when you're also a renter comes with...challenges. And one of them is that I don't get to do as much homesteading stuff as I want to--or am allowed to. So it limits things like me being able to produce my own wheat to make into flour. It limits me in planting huge patches of potato hills and sweet potatoes (though I am going to attempt to grow potatoes in a bag again, this time in an actual potato grow bag and not a small DIY one that....failed. But we don't talk about that.).
And it also means that I can easily fall victim to just, you know, buying my produce. Which is helpful when you don't have any because you have to wait for the soil to improve or another raised bed to be built. And so I can't film videos of me cooking food from my garden because currently there IS nothing from my garden to cook! As for knitting...well. I am knitting, I just didn't take any pics! Sorry!
On top of all this, I'm an author (are you shocked?!) with deadlines and people looking at me to complete things and submit them aaaannnddd....sometimes gardening and cooking my own meals falls to the wayside in favor of, you know, my job.
So I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while.
WOW THAT WAS A LONG EXPLANATION ARE YOU GUYS OKAY? ARE YOU CROSSED EYED? BORED? READYING YOUR PITCHFORKS?
Don't worry! Here comes the gardening part!
I'VE BEEN GARDENING!
While you (I?) were away, I built things! Like this arbor trellis! I used wooden poles, zipties, and sturdy rabbit cage fencing (2 inch by 2 inch paneling)! I'm growing my purple peas and purple greenbeans on them! I also cleared out my raised bed of the downed corn so that it's ready for my fall kitchen garden!
IT LOOKS LIKE THIS NOW:
I know.
I KNOW.
I was dumb to think that that one measly bag would be enough! What was I thinking!?!?
I was sick.
So uh....let's just blame it on that, shall we?
Moving on!
I filled the one pot with the soil. I had some left over and filled a meager amount in the next pot. I could feel my apple tree staring at me disdainfully. I didn't know apple trees could be disdainful, but they are.
I had to steal dirt from my fallow raised bed (the one with trellis) and try not to feel guilty about it. I mean, I meant to also buy an extra bag of soil to put in it anyway, so at the end of the day, a few shovels of soil weren't going to end me!
So now my almond tree and my apple tree are sitting beside my flower box! On the OTHER side of it sits my other hybird apple tree and plum tree! Pardon the garden supplies laying all over the flower bed, it's only there until the seedlings are big enough that the friendly neighborhood opossum doesn't dig in the dirt as it's personal litter box.
A) Living in a rental
B) Having a limited amount of space to garden.
As I'm pretty sure you don't want to see minute by minute coverage of my seedlings thinking about whether or not they want to grow, I haven't updated.
And believe me, that's as frustrating for me as it is for you! I have no adorable chickens to update you on, no footage of the newest cutest thing my lil' Nigerian goats have accomplished, and no beehives to check up on. Hell, I don't even get to really dig into the ground (and sadly we have a LOT of it, all of which I'm not allowed to do ANYTHING to.)!
But I can here you all now.
"You said you were an urban homesteader! Why don't you just get animals?"
"Homesteaders make their own food too! Why aren't you filming yourself making bread or something?!"
"Don't you knit? Why aren't you knitting anything!? That seems like a homesteader thing!"
Okay....so. Here me out.
Being an urban homesteader when you're also a renter comes with...challenges. And one of them is that I don't get to do as much homesteading stuff as I want to--or am allowed to. So it limits things like me being able to produce my own wheat to make into flour. It limits me in planting huge patches of potato hills and sweet potatoes (though I am going to attempt to grow potatoes in a bag again, this time in an actual potato grow bag and not a small DIY one that....failed. But we don't talk about that.).
And it also means that I can easily fall victim to just, you know, buying my produce. Which is helpful when you don't have any because you have to wait for the soil to improve or another raised bed to be built. And so I can't film videos of me cooking food from my garden because currently there IS nothing from my garden to cook! As for knitting...well. I am knitting, I just didn't take any pics! Sorry!
On top of all this, I'm an author (are you shocked?!) with deadlines and people looking at me to complete things and submit them aaaannnddd....sometimes gardening and cooking my own meals falls to the wayside in favor of, you know, my job.
So I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while.
WOW THAT WAS A LONG EXPLANATION ARE YOU GUYS OKAY? ARE YOU CROSSED EYED? BORED? READYING YOUR PITCHFORKS?
Don't worry! Here comes the gardening part!
I'VE BEEN GARDENING!
While you (I?) were away, I built things! Like this arbor trellis! I used wooden poles, zipties, and sturdy rabbit cage fencing (2 inch by 2 inch paneling)! I'm growing my purple peas and purple greenbeans on them! I also cleared out my raised bed of the downed corn so that it's ready for my fall kitchen garden!
IT LOOKS LIKE THIS NOW:
(zipties are life!)
And if that wasn't enough, I also got an almond tree and braeburn apple tree! Did I mention that? I feel like I did? Well if you didn't know, now you do! I've been meaning to put them in new pots, but just haven't had the time--and I got sick. But today I was feeling well enough to drag myself to the local homedepot and get two huge pots and a bag of soil.
Then I did the dumb thing.
I looked at the large pots. I looked at the bag of dirt doubtfully.
Then I said to myself. "Awww I'm sure it'll equal out to enough dirt between the two of them!"
Ha.
Hahahaha.
No.
Let me show you, friends, the bag of dirt compared to the pot (of which there are TWO pots)
Then I did the dumb thing.
I looked at the large pots. I looked at the bag of dirt doubtfully.
Then I said to myself. "Awww I'm sure it'll equal out to enough dirt between the two of them!"
Ha.
Hahahaha.
No.
Let me show you, friends, the bag of dirt compared to the pot (of which there are TWO pots)
I know.
I KNOW.
I was dumb to think that that one measly bag would be enough! What was I thinking!?!?
I was sick.
So uh....let's just blame it on that, shall we?
Moving on!
I filled the one pot with the soil. I had some left over and filled a meager amount in the next pot. I could feel my apple tree staring at me disdainfully. I didn't know apple trees could be disdainful, but they are.
I had to steal dirt from my fallow raised bed (the one with trellis) and try not to feel guilty about it. I mean, I meant to also buy an extra bag of soil to put in it anyway, so at the end of the day, a few shovels of soil weren't going to end me!
So now my almond tree and my apple tree are sitting beside my flower box! On the OTHER side of it sits my other hybird apple tree and plum tree! Pardon the garden supplies laying all over the flower bed, it's only there until the seedlings are big enough that the friendly neighborhood opossum doesn't dig in the dirt as it's personal litter box.
(It would look so pretty if there were flowers there, and not gardening things. ugh btw, on the left is the apple tree, on the right is the almond tree!)
And of course, my work is only half done! I still have to make another trellis, plant gourds to grow on it, plant tomato seeds, dig up then replant my herb bed, plant my kitchen garden, retry growing my artichoke seeds, order a cherry tree, and debate with myself about getting a pear or peach tree!
Or both?
NO. NO I CAN'T AFFORD THAT. SOMEONE STOP ME PLEEEAAASE!
How's your fall gardening going? Have any of you gotten super far behind on gardening projects? Do any of you guys find it hard to cook from scratch from your garden right now? Or is it just me?
And of course, my work is only half done! I still have to make another trellis, plant gourds to grow on it, plant tomato seeds, dig up then replant my herb bed, plant my kitchen garden, retry growing my artichoke seeds, order a cherry tree, and debate with myself about getting a pear or peach tree!
Or both?
NO. NO I CAN'T AFFORD THAT. SOMEONE STOP ME PLEEEAAASE!
How's your fall gardening going? Have any of you gotten super far behind on gardening projects? Do any of you guys find it hard to cook from scratch from your garden right now? Or is it just me?
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