I am proud to say that this was officially the last day of planting my Winter Garden 2009!! So far, this experience has been very different for me! From planting my flowers first, to taking an entire week to get everything in, I have felt this truly is an experiment! And although I was hesitant at the beginning of my week, having to work with a different planting routine, I must admit, it worked out beautifully in the end! The midweek rain, into a high heat spell for the last three days has set all my flowers and leafy greens in wonderfully!!! It literally was the perfect time to plant! Just another reminder that everything is meant to be and after all the planning, you must let go and trust.
Today, I finished off my garden, focusing on root vegetables because the zodiac constellation in the sky is, Virgo, an Earth sign. I chose to plant carrots, beets and green bunching onions. Last year, I did carrots and beets by seed, (among many other veggies because it was hard for me to find a lot of starters that I wanted last winter) but I am looking forward to enjoying my carrots a bit earlier in the season because I luckily found starters. Unfortunately, they are not the carrot variety I would have loved, but nonetheless, they will be tasty and a great size for my son to chomp on. My beets I am doing by seed once again and I am thrilled to have them back in my garden. I LOVE homegrown beets!! They are SO yummy and sweet straight out of the garden! And the greens are so tender and easy to cook with, not to mention their amazing nutritional benefits! Last year, I did a stripped heirloom variety and this year I am doing the dark red Early Wonder. I will update you as I go to any differences, since I've done both by seed.
Intentionally, I chose to plant my carrots in order to ground myself and family through this huge transition of pregnancy, childbirth and first time sibling experience for my son. May their roots grow deep into the earth, keeping us sturdy through stormy times and giving us a solid foundation to move forward from. I planted my beets with the intention of passion and prosperity. Their rich, dark red color is so royal and sensual looking to me. The color feels like the Indian Goddess Lakshmi Durga, who signifies good luck. May we be showered with an abundance of necessities and have some extra time to indulge in creative endeavors that feed our souls. And lastly, I planted my green bunching onions for all the other parents (but, especially the mama's) out in the world. May they stimulate your energy and keep you moving in a positive direction with your children. Parenting truly is one big experiment! May you find patience in times of distress, breaks in times of exhaustion and laughter in times of tragedy.
I have to say unfortunately, with such little space, I can only plant so much. I wish I had more room to add an herb garden and continue to build my leafy green area and root veggies this winter. But, I do think spacing and aesthetics in a garden are just as important as your soil, watering techniques and placement choices. Especially spacing. You really need to be considerate of the plants mature size and give them enough room, in order to be successful. I think that can really set a new gardener apart from an experienced one. Less is more at the beginning because that allows your plants to eventually produce more in the end. If you try to squish tons of plants on top of each other to start, they have nowhere to expand out to. And of course, I am not only speaking of the plant on top of the soil, but more so the root system underneath. Breathing room is so important. I always find, when looking at my new garden at the beginning of a season, it feels like their is so much space unused. However, by mid to late season, that once barren feeling, is quickly replaced by a wild, jungle feel. That is why I like to start with clean lines and order because I know that it will soon mesh into a lush, tangled, dense paradise eventually.
Speaking of which, I plan to post pictures from previous seasons, so you can see my progress in the past as well. It really is exciting to see where you have come from and the potential of where it can go. Such a very gratifying process and experience. Almost as much as parenting a child.
I have visually documented my planting today in the next post, with step-by-step pictures. Enjoy!
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