The Creations of M. Nicole van Dam ®

It can be delayed no longer – in fact already I am late. Time to face the overgrown wilderness that once was my veggie garden. The first step is to arm myself with the requisite tools – seeds, markers, pens, a little hand spade and of course… coffee!

Can this hodgepodge of things a garden make?

Onward down my lovely beckoning garden path to the garden. The sun is shining, and I am happy to be out again.  I truly am uncertain as to what I will find there, but had the foresight to have the gardener do an intial clearing a few weeks ago, before all the rains came again.  What I find confirms my suspicions – fueled by the rain the garden is once again overgrown, overrun, but all in all, a delightful canvas awaits this novice veggie gardener’s paint brush:

Poor dandelion – this is the one part of gardening I don’t like much – choosing some things to die so that others might thrive. 

These leeks somehow survived the winter, as did a few carrots and the artichoke is now on year 3!  These surviviors make a nice running start to this year’s veggie garden 🙂

First I start clearing things by hand – debris flying.  Little T decides to play it safe and hide under the garden stool:

It’s time to take out the “heavy equipment!”

In the process I discover 2 beds are in need of repair before I plant them.  Those will be the beds for the corn, sugar snaps, sunflowers and possibly more arugalah and kale.  It’s a bit disappointing, because I am so late already, and it will be two weeks before my gardener comes again to make repairs.  Delaying the two beds does mean, however, that I have less work to do today!  The silver lining!

After a wee bit of huffing and puffing, all of which actually felt rather nice, the worst is done, and it’s time to plant the seeds.  Last year I started with an indoor seed germination kit, but this year I am gong to try straight into the soil, since I am late.  Last year I used only new seeds, this time I first use the remaining seeds from last year.  I admit  I am a bit concerned that these two rather significant changes (planting directly into soil and using older seeds) will result in less success, but it seems a shame to waste the seeds or not try at all being so late.

Big Leonberger dog T keeps a cautious watch on all the goings on:

Now that the debris isn’t flying anymore, Chihuahua Pomeranian Papillion Little T offers to help:

In any event, in the main bed I planted 3 different varieties of spinach, two rows of bright lights chard, kale, some golden beets, six tomatoes (red and yellow pear and a lovely heirloom mix including Krim)(a bit late on those ((sigh)), and arugulah (hubby’s favorite).

The other/second  bed not needing repairs is the “berry bed” – it already is full to the brim with blossoming strawberry plants from last year, a hearty raspberry, a blueberry and a blackberry.  I didn’t have much to do on this berry box but weed and thin.

I realize I need to buy some basil and pepper seeds to plant.  If I have any over from last year, I can’t find them (what a surprise!).

After veggie beds are done (at least for the day), I treat myself to two tangerines from our amazing hybrid citrus tree – it has several varieties of orange, tangerines, etc., in abundance:

I also enjoy the flowers all around me, and take note of the rest of the lovely garden.  The “Silver Cloud” ornamental tree (these are amazing) has begun to leaf and for the first time has little purple flowers.  The donut-peach tree is full of pink blossoms, as is are the young pummelo and ruby red grapefruit trees.  The asian apple and asian pear trees are beginning to bud – will we get fruit from them for the first time this year?  The main fig has big fat buds, and the youngest apricot tree boasts it first blossom, while the tow other mature apricots are full of flowers.  Most amazingly, our hybrid apple tree, that has many varieties of apples grafted to it, already has four little apples on it!  YUM!  It’s a beautiful time to be in the garden, and I feel thankful and blessed to be able to enjoy my garden again!