In Shaw (an historically gentrified blog): Surprise me gardening

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Surprise me gardening

Okay. I have mentally accepted that I won't be in the TC or anywhere in Shaw or even Eckington, and will be spending a lot of time in an undisclosed location in PG County where the buses suck. So if all goes well I won't be back in my house till June or July, Summer. However, I still want to garden. I want to come back to a garden.
I could just buy tomato and other plants and concentrate on fall plantings and crops when I come back. I could. Rather, I have decided to take my chances with nature. I have some left over seeds that should have been planted last year, and so I took them outside and threw them on the ground and covered them with dirt. If they grow and there is something for me to tend and something that hasn't been destroyed by workmen, then YAY! If not, so be it. They should get a decent amount of water from rain till Summer hits. They'd be in the ground, so hopefully that will help.
Winter has proven that some plants just don't need me. The Arugula was holding strong till that nasty highs below freezing weather. Then it died off. Now it is coming back, again, with no help from me. And I put them there by, randomly throwing seed against my house. I'm hoping for the same miracle.
Moving the mulch made from last year's tomato vines and leaves, I discovered the peppermint has gone wild. And that's why you keep peppermint in a friggin pot. So has the Sweet Woodruff. Before the Sweet Woodruff was impossible for me to keep alive, but it found shelter under the leaves of the arugula and several tender young leaves greeted me.
The thyme is fine. The oregano seems to be okay. I discovered some sage I'd completely forgotten about. The mint is more than fine and acting true to its nature, like a weed.
In the back, in pots, the Spring Onions are surviving squirrel attacks. As are the few sprigs of cilantro. The pot with the daylilies looks dry and the lilies are doing, something, I don't know what. The compost is looking good. I shoveled a little out last night. I'm not seeing a lot of worms and I'm worried the frost might have killed some off. I may seed one huge pot for tomato and hope that it holds enough water until I can return.
It will be interesting to see what Nature surprises me with.

Labels: gardening