Francisca’s eyes fluttered open as the weight of grief pressed onto her chest, making it hard to breathe. She desperately wanted to go back to the other realm. Her dreamland as she calls it. The one where she had acres of land and a garden that never asked anything of her. Endless rows of flowers blooming as she walked by. A dream sanctuary where she felt at peace. Only there, her evil twin Greta couldn’t reach her. She had been chasing Francisca, trying to finish the job and permanently screw the anxiety goggles onto her head.
Francisca lay in bed, staring at the thin lines of sunlight illuminating through the blinds. A tiny smile crawled onto her face when she realized what day it was. It was the first day of gardening season. Her secret weapon against Greta. Finally, she thought as she rose out of bed.
I’ve been thinking a lot about that version of me. The one who believes the garden can fix everything. But it’s not that simple. Yes, it’s great for my mental health and has the power to keep Greta (my inner gremlin) away, but what it truly gives me is hope. It softens my pessimistic side and brings out my optimistic one. It helps me have hope for tomorrow, hope that there is still beauty in the world, and hope for my own life. And oh boy, does it teach me patience and the fact that I cannot control everything.
But let’s be honest, real life is not like our dreams. Nothing is free. If we want all those things from the garden, we have to work for it. And gardening is a lot of work.
My garden has grown exponentially over the past few years. It started with a few veggies in pots and has grown into a 16’ by 24’ enclosure with multiple raised beds and too many to count pots. My favorite thing to grow is cut flowers. I do grow peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, and a handful of herbs, but the majority of the garden is flowers.
As I step into my fourth year of gardening, I wanted to share its beauty with you and document my journey. So that is what this will be. I will recap each month, share gardening updates, maybe a few tips, lessons I learned (in life and gardening), and of course share its beauty through pictures and videos. I don’t know if this will have a specific format or what this will evolve into but for now it is my version of a garden diary.
I live in the Chicagoland area, so my gardening season is limited. Even though spring is here, our last frost isn’t until about mid to end of April. That means all the heat-loving plants cannot be planted outside until then. However, my gardening season technically starts in late February as I start seeds indoors. There is something so magical about taking a speck of a seed, putting it in soil, and watching it grow into a big, beautiful plant. Between February and March, I have sown snapdragon seeds, black-eyed Susans, dahlias, foxglove, chamomile, marigolds, celosia, and viola jump-up seeds.
Gardening Tip: If starting seeds indoors, it helps to have grow lights and heating mats. You can put them near a window, but if the plants aren’t getting enough light, they will stretch to reach for it and become leggy and weak.
One thing about gardening is that you will fail and kill plants. I already had my first failure of the season. The first batch of foxglove seeds I planted all died except two plants. This is my first year growing them and, well, I was impatient. I took the dome lid off the tray too soon. The few sprouts dried up and died quickly, and the rest of the seeds never sprouted. It was like a slap on the wrist. Nature’s way of reminding me to be patient. I started a second batch and am happy to report all 12 seedlings are doing great.
This is also the time I map out the garden and think about issues from last year. A big problem we encountered was rats burrowing into our snapdragon and dahlia raised beds. Ugh, those critters make me sick. The year before last, we dealt with earwigs. I’m curious to see what kind of pest we will have to fight this year, because if there is one thing gardening has taught me, it is that there will be problems and I will not be able to control all of it. Anywho, we need to figure out a solution for the rats this season.
While March is filled with a lot of tasks to do indoors, it’s also the time to clean up the raised beds and pots from last year. I will admit the garden was a hot mess. I was so burnt out last fall and neglected it the last couple months of the season. We did not do any cleaning up or anything. Earlier this month, Armando and I tag-teamed clearing out all the dead plants. The next step is to amend the soil, but it’s looking like that may be an April task for most of the raised beds.
One other exciting thing I’ve started doing is hardening off my snapdragons, chamomile, and viola jump-up babies. I’m pretty sure I potted up the snapdragon seeds too soon because they are so tall and are starting to flower already. They desperately need to go into the raised beds before they get root-bound and their growth is stunted. This is also a great reminder that the environment we’re in plays a huge factor in our growth. Sometimes we need to pull our roots up and plant them somewhere else in order to thrive.
Gardening Tip: Have a small fan circulating your seedlings indoors. This will help strengthen them and start to prepare them for the sometimes harsh winds outdoors.
While this past month has been tough for me personally, getting my garden going has helped. I usually have a handful of days throughout the month where I spend a few hours in our gardening nook. I will pop in an audiobook (currently listening to It by Stephen King) and just work in my own peaceful bubble. Sometimes it’s sowing seeds or potting up the babies to give them more room to grow.
One thing I have come to accept is that from the months of March through May, the nook will be a huge mess. But I have come to enjoy the mess because it means life is being born and I’m cultivating beauty. It also means I’m outrunning Greta and the screws of my anxiety goggles are starting to come loose.
As I come to the end of the month, I need to remind myself to take it one day at a time. I can sometimes try to do too many things at once and end up neglecting self-care. But what I’m learning is that sometimes all I need is to take things slow. To focus on one thing. I originally planned to start draft two of my novel in April, but I’ve decided to push it out one more month. The garden needs most of my attention this next month. The seedlings need to be nurtured and taken care of. And I know that if I take care of them, they will take care of me.
One Last thing….
My original plan was to share a video montage of the past month, but life happened and we just didn’t get to it. So instead, I’m sharing a couple of videos from previous years. Thanks again for reading. I’m so excited to share more throughout the season.
Love this! I love seeing into the gardens of others and the stories and lives behind them! Excited to see the garden grow! I may have to do my own garden recaps, this was a fun read!