Instant Gratification

When I was younger my mum always complained about my need for instant gratification. You need something now, you want something now. But in the end, it's not realistic. You can't have everything you want. At least not right away. It takes time and work.

Some things go well out here, others not so much. We are starting a new garden and while it's looking good and it is full of worms (seriously full), a lot of the plants we are planting are not taking to the soil. It's tragic when any plant dies (especially one that you plan to eat someday) but most of our kale seedlings are dead as are most of our onions. Perhaps the clay soil was too rocky and not broken up enough. Maybe we were just too ambitious coming from Ontario and that wonderful growing climate.

It's disheartening but really what did we expect? You can't turn a hay field into a garden overnight. It's going to take us years. We're going to have to add manure, leaves, hay and keep feeding the soil microorganisms that will eventually provide us with a healthy and hearty harvest.

So some good news: our peas are phenomenal. We will be able to corner the market I'm sure. And we're hoping that the potatoes, heavily mulched, can provide us with what we need this winter. The soil continues to warm up and we are having nothing but sunny, warm days. The black flies are not nearly as oppressive as I would have thought from everyone's warnings but I know that they will get worse before they get better.

And these failures make you appreciate the value of perennial plants like Jerusalem artichokes, berries, asparagus, rhubarb, fruit and nut trees and many more. Really we should be expending our energy supporting their growth. But I'm not giving up on a fresh tomato sandwich to end the summer off right. Not yet.