The Garden!....So far
It’s after midsummer, and our garden is blooming! Our goal in life is to become more sustainable. We have made a good start this season, but there is no way we would reach all of our goals the first year. Neither of us has done much gardening before. So this is all new, and we’re learning as we go.
Hannah picking weeds from the garden
Sustainability can mean a lot of things. It could refer to self, economical, environmental, and we want to dip our toes in as many categories as possible. This article will talk about our first attempt to become more self sustainable in regards to food, particularly gardening.
The word on the street is that the previous owners of our house used to grow really tasty on our property. The soil is sandy providing the perfect environment for root veggies (a good staple for anyone living in the arctic). When we first got to our new house you could see a nice rectangular patch of grass that used be their veggie plot. As soon as the ground thawed we got the tractor, and the driver that goes with it, to turn the earth for us. Then it was to pull out all the weeds. It was quite a job, but then we were left with fresh soil to plant in. Right now we have three varieties of potatoes, and one variety of carrots. I was a little impatient this year, and I really wanted to get planting, so I pregrew one variety of potatoes. They may have gotten a little out of hand in their small growing space. Next year I would like to time everything a little better. Ideally in the future we will build a greenhouse so that we can pre-grow more.
The carrots are growing
We want to keep the animals out of our garden. We have deer that roam the area, and our dogs of course. Luckily, the previous owners had a disassembled fence on the property. Jeremias has been busy putting it back together around the plot. We also have one raised bed with spinach growing it in. Well, almost, only a few little green head have poked out so far. And, then there are the peas! I have the peas growing in a deep wood box. I lined the base with firewood to save on planting soil. It will be interesting to see how this affects the growth.
Working in the garden is so much fun
Peas
There was also the pumpkin fiasco. Ok I’m being dramatic, I tried growing pumpkins this year, but realized that I needed much more growing time for them, and that they are quite sensitive. One plant is still fighting, but I don’t expect to see it produce anything. My next attempt with this vegetable will be in a greenhouse.
The fighting pumpkin
As a housewarming gift, our friends gave us two chili plants. This was something I never would have tried myself, so I was really excited for the gift. They are sitting in our kitchen, and have begun to produce chilis! It’s pretty amazing. I get giddy when I see things growing in my garden. I think it’s due to my genetic black thumb, I will break the cycle!
We also want to take advantage of what already grows in the area. We have a patch of strawberries on the front garden, that have started to produce fruits already, and some more plants just in from of the house. If I need more for jams, pies, or juice, there’s plenty more growing alongside the driveway.
Strawberrys are coming along
As I said, we want to become more self sustainable in every part of our life, but we have to start somewhere. It’s important to keep that in mind when trying to make any lifestyle change. If you try too much at once, you’ll miss the things you need to learn along the way. Instead we try to make slower, more deliberate efforts to reach our goal.
