The garden is approximately a disaster, but there is food planted and some growing. After the past year, this is wonderous. Nothing got planted in 2020 (more below).
According to my limited log keeping, I am only about 10 days behind
2019 in planting, so I can hope for some success.
I have the tomatoes in (down to 9 cages, 3 trials), 6 cages of Blue Lake beans (hoping that is enough to get canning sized pickings at one time -- plain beans & dilly beans), and 8 (I think) cages of cucumbers, mostly for garlic dill pickle relish.
There are several basil plants to be planted tomorrow. These are from the nursery as I flaked out and did not get them seeded inside like I planned. (Memory of $60 spent will help motivate me next year.)
There should be other things, but after a year off, this may be all I can deal with.
Several beds are complete losses after a year of neglect. No point in planting, just weeding, weeding & weeding.
An additional issue is that our county yard waste center, which is usually overflowing with free mulch, is overflowing with brush, with no mulch to be seen. I need to find someone to talk to about what to expect there.
I may need to lean on songbird's paper & cardboard methods . . . which brings other supply questions.
As for 2020 . . . .
Like many people in the world, and maybe several people here, I deal (sometimes well, sometimes not) with Depression. Over the last decade or two, gardening has been a large part of managing that.
My *intended* garden schedule starts with seeding the tomatoes inside in February. Following that is tilling, mulching, other seedings (inside & out), etc. But by February (maybe January) 2020, I was glued to the horrible situation in Italy, and then far too many other places. And I had a sense of dread.
And I shut down. Maybe if the seeds had been started, they'd have pulled me along. I don't know. But I was on the couch following body counts and frozen.
By mid-March 2020, I was working from home. And I am still there today. (Eight years from even considering retirement.)
Vaccinated and starting to crack the doors toward, um, something. Taking baby steps.
I may heve neglected to say that the tomatoes are blooming.