Becoming a Gardener
Gardening is something I’ve always struggled with. I’ve always wanted to garden, but some part of me just doesn’t trust myself and is afraid to fail.
There. I said it.
I mean, I’m a homeschooling mom and am constantly telling my kids how important it is to fail in order to learn and advance, but when the failure involves waste, I just struggle with it even more.
So, instead I have spent countless hours reading and researching, but not much doing.
Now, it’s not that I’m not doing anything, mind you. I do have 4 kiddos (11, 8, 5 & 2) and we homeschool so that takes up a good amount of time. Also, one of my kids has insane allergies & sensitivities so I literally spend hours each day researching what foods we can substitute for recipes that she can tolerate and then actually cooking nutrient meals.
However, gardening seems to get pushed down the to-do list.
My husband, @guntotnhippie took a permaculture course a few years ago, but he works full time, so while he helps on the weekends and a bit during the week, if this garden is going to finally be productive, it’s going to be up to me.
So, I’ve been telling myself and writing in my journal that this is my year. That this year I will be proactive and have a bountiful harvest! I haven’t gone into detail of how. I just tried to focus on the positive feelings. I’ve envisioned myself in flourishing greenery. I’ve imagined the warm sun on me as I smile at the budding growth. I’ve been working on having faith in myself in a positive way and then I get this crazy invitation to be fostered by an experienced Steemian and gardener, @goldendawne.
At first, I panicked and was honestly trying to think of how I was tactfully and politely going to decline. Our garden is currently buried under two feet of snow and because of the potential for frost here I believe it’s still too early to actually start anything right now.
But then I realized that this is an opportunity for me to reach out to others that are just as timid or scared to break ground as I was! I’m not your typical blogger. I don’t have it all together. In fact, I’m quite the opposite. I try to share my blunders and bloopers because on this journey so far, I’ve met some awesome people who have really been so kind and giving, but I still felt like the odd one out.
So, this series of gardening posts are going to be very basic. They will each showcase a mistake I’ve made along the way, along with plans to avoid said mistake this year.
I might even use a few of these nifty resources as references!
I'm also hoping the readers will chime in with their own advice or tales of their own personal experiences because what I’ve learned about Steemians in my short time here is just how supportive we all are.
Please join me this week for some fun and laughs and hopefully you’ll learn something too.
Thanks for stopping by!
This post gets the #healthy-home seal of approval.
Now I am not saying that "not having it together" is our goal...but it is closer to the truth for most of us than the digital facade that is often projected!
As for gardening...I've heard "you arent a true gardener until you have killed a thousand plants." Makes starting seeds look more attractive than buying plants!!
And wow, if you homeschool, you could legitimately take a whole quarter or semester and spend the whole thing doing gardening and gardening related exercises. From poems, to biology, to economics, to nutrition and on and on. It actually sounds like a cool challenge.... I shall drop the textbook! Will you accept the challenge?!?
Okay, fun aside, @goldendawne is a great helper and teacher, I think you are in very good hands!!
Take care, and good luck!
(Also, my son @imsteinsbrother is 11 and was homeschooled for 4 years... He has a few cool posts your children may find interesting!)
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Thank You!
I like how you think! My goal is always to advance from where I am, whether that means to gain more knowledge or more aptitude.
Yes, the little bit of gardening we've done so far I've always tied to school, but now that the girls are older we can certainly delve a bit deeper. So, yes! Challenge accepted! ;-)
I've heard only good things about @goldendawne. I feel very fortunate to have her as a mentor.
My oldest is 11 and we are about to set her up here so she can share a chapter book she's working on and some of her artwork. We will take a peek at your son's posts next week sometime, since I don't usually post daily, so this week is going to be a challenge for me!
Thanks for sharing!
Thank you both @healthy-home & @crowbarmama for your kindness!
And yes, #crowbarmama we'll be chatting this week!
TONS of plans coming for the fostering a gardener initiative!
It’s like you are homeschooling yourself. Lol you are showing your kids that it has to start somewhere, the garden that is, so you started your garden with a book.
I love that!
"...so you started your garden with a book."
That sounds like something I'm going to have to turn into some wall art somewhere!
I'm very eclectic in my interests, but the one saying that has become my motto, regardless of what I'm dabbling in is:
**When you're green, you're growing! When you're ripe, you rot!"
I have lost of growing to look forward to!
Wishing you success! I think that gardening can start with small projects. My flatmate manages to grow delicious herbs and vegetables on our tiny balcony. I think she has green fingers, but she insists that anyone could do it. And gardening will surely be something for your children to help with?
Looking forward to hearing about your progress!
Oh, you brought up a sweet memory! When @guntotnhippie and I were first married we lived in an apartment with a balcony. I went crazy growing herbs and flowers. I was putting basil in everything for quite some time!
Yes, the kids s love to help with outside projects. Although the 2 & 5 year old get a little overZ
Sounds like you're already a gardener :D
Haha basil does seem to grow exuberantly. My boyfriend has an organic herb garden on his balcony and the basil always grows faster than we can eat it. Sadly less so with the mint and parsley. Fresh thyme is my favourite.
Yes! We planted some thyme this last year and I used it almost daily! I actually prefer it to basil now. We also use a lot of parsley. Good stuff!
I agree with @crowbarmama - this brings up memories :0)
On one of my first appartments I had this very tiny balcony which was filled with containers in which I grew all kinds of herbs and lettuce :0)
That’s how my passion for gardening started..
Isn't amazing how well things can grow on a balcony? I suppose it's a sun trap and offers especially mild conditions because of the protection from the house itself.
Probably. It was a south-faced balcony, so I guess that must have been my luck :0)
Great stuff! I am an amateur gardener too. I am reading more about it balancing my time between that and Steemit. I kind of just go a bit freestyle and follow my instinct but am trying to read more about permaculture gardening 💯🐒
Nice to hear there are more ‘freestylers’. :0)
I’m an amateur gardener too, and I follow my instinct more than anything else. I tend to overthink everything in my life, but in my garden I’m able to let this go and be spontanious. :0)
Great tot hear, best way for everything I think. Just go with it haha 💯🐒
The more I read about the Law of Attraction, the more I can finally convince myself to let go. Reading your comments here just made me realize that's what's been holding me back in gardening too! I'm determined this year to just let it flow. Thank you @vibeof100monkeys and @simplymike! Loving this community!
And don’t worry about making mistakes. I had this beautiful Chayote plant in my garden last summer. All went well, until the plant started to get sick during mid summer. I tried so much to save it, but it didn’t work. Afterwards I learned that, although it was a tropical plant, I shouldn’t have put it in the greenhouse. So, I’ll just try again next year...
you learn while you go along...
Great to hear @crowbarmama. We can't be free until we allow ourselves to be free. Yes Steemit is amazing enjoy! 💯🐒
I started gardening with a squarefoot garden bed three years ago. Last year, it spontaniously grew out to be 10 times that size. I didn’t plan for it, it just happened. The main thing I learned from this is that no matter how many books you read or searches you do, it mostly comes down to trial and error.
Like in all other things in life, you learn the most by making mistakes.
Not everything always works out like planned (fortunately), but sometimes those mistakes open the door to new ideas or insights.
All I know for sure is that watching a seed grow out to a plant, and after a while being able to eat what you grow is such a great feeling of accomplishment - even if you manage to grow only 1 tomato from 10 plants, it’s the most delicious one in the universe....
:0)
Wow! How awesome to see something grow beyond our expectations! When we have had successful plants, the kids have gobbled them up right there on the spot, even though if they'd been on their dinner plate they would have eaten them, but not with the gusto as when they're picking and chomping!
Last year we had a few pea plants sprout up here and there and none of them ever made it to the pot!
Thanks for the kind words and encouragement!
The books and courses are a great start but your garden will be the ultimate educator!! There is no substitute for getting your hands into the dirt and truly caring for the plants to hone your gardening skills. There is also nothing as rewarding than reaping a big harvest after all the effort you have put in! =)
Thank you for your comment. I certainly am feeling more confident with all this encouragement. I'm looking forward to getting my hands dirty!
Just do it! If its really intimidating just pick a couple plants. Try and grow a couple tomato plants, and a couple squash plants this year. Next year you'll be surprised what you can grow. Do you need some squash seeds?
Following.
We've done a bit here and there over the last few years, just not enough to gain traction! :-)
We did plant some squash last year, but it was too late in the season and so there wasn't much of a harvest once temps started dropping.
We're definitely starting earlier this year! Thanks for the offer but we've got a pretty good non-GMO seed stash we collected before leaving California. So kind of you!
Your welcome! Good Luck
HOW GREAT! I love keeping track of my gardening adventures and plans. It makes it so much nicer to see what went wrong and how to change it.
You have been chosen to be my Fostered Gardener Of The Week Thanks to @fulltimegeek's delegation as a Steward of Gondor @goldendawne will be here for you to assist, guide and help you GROW- just like your garden- on steemit. Please accept this 100% Upvote for this post. You will receive a 100% Upvote for every post (up to seven per week) you make for the seven days CONGRATULATIONS on being a committed steemian!
Thank you. I was thinking of doing my garden notes on an extra calendar-then it would be easy to refer to from year to year.
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Hey this is awesome! I appreciate your transparency and honesty! Many of us who garden have experienced failure- in fact, it’s a given in gardening as there is so much we can’t control! Last year 4 out of 40 of our squash survived (squash beetles), and it takes time to get the soil built up to where it really produces. So give your garden and yourself some time! It definitely takes years to build soil so a long term approach is the best one ;) look forward to your journey~~~ take it easy !
I completely agree when you say that there’s only so much you can control.
It’s taken out of the context of the original post, but I still want to share this quote from my post about my 2018 garden plans
There’s so much going on in the garden that you can not forsee, that’s one of the things I like about it. Failure is part of the deal - there’s no way around that...
So is that your alt-acct? Is one more geared to gardening and the other to crypto?
Actually, that one is my old account (@mike314-0005). The username was too hard to remember and too easy to misspell, so I transferred to a new account