For assorted reasons, it has been several years since I'd had a food garden planted. But today I do, behind schedule, but it is there.
The tomatoes are planted and cucumbers seeded. The basil and boldog peppers are on the porch getting a little protected temperature stress before they are planted, along with oodles of parsley for the swallowtails.
Background: I had some minor problems with motivation, leading to the gardens going wild and looking impossible. And then COVID moved in, and I became a near shut-in. A bit later, we started on a construction project that took over the yard. And to make metters worse, the dirt from the excavation got piled on top of my previous garden.
When it was all over, I'd lost most of my garden soil (back down to clay), and the ground was super compacted. I got a little planted last year, but failed to get the fence up. So critters, mainly deer, ate everything.
The plan for this year had been: deer fence -- February till -- March mulch -- March & April plant -- late April
Events (including a new grandbaby) gave excuses for procrastination. Reality ended up being: deer fence -- May till -- finished 1 June mulch -- haven't even started plant -- 2 June and the coming week
For lack of space, I had to send all my old plant cages to the scrap metal bin. I have a roll of 6x6" mesh and need to at least get them made for the tomatoes (currently staked). If I can get some in time for the cucumbers that will be great. They are currently planted in mounds, but I can tame them if they aren't too long.
I just dropped the plan to grow pole beans this year.
The brain feels good to be back in the garden. The body has some complaints.