I just put in an on-line seed order for far more than I really meant to…
Only, I received a newsletter from a shop where all seeds are 25% off today and today only, so I went a bit bad. Peas, beans – and more beans and then some beans – brassicas, annuals, biennials and perennials…
Most are fairly happy-go-lucky seeds, though, that just needs to be thrown in the ground in spring and covered with a bit of soil. It’s really only the dahlias that will require a bit of propagation before I transplant them outside, but then the year I sowed them in the apartment and planted them out in the old Flâneur Garden they really made such an impact that I think it will be worth it.
I have, of course, not a clue where everything will go yet. I need to start planning that in spring. Though there IS a dedicated vegetable patch, so most of the vegetables will end up there, as well as some of the perennials that need to be grown on before they can really hold their own in low-maintenance flower beds.
I’ve also started harvesting from the garden in the courtyard of my present apartment building… Marigold seeds are currently drying in a bowl on my table, and I keep an eye on the nasturtium seeds to make sure I get them when they’re ripe. Oh, and there are some sedums that I should really take cuttings from before it’s too late… (Yes, my temporary apartment really does have a wonderful courtyard! It feels like a garden…)
It’s nice to think that even a temporary residence like this tiny apartment can yield a legacy that I will carry with me into my new garden.
Anyway, one month from today I’ll get the keys to the house – and free reign over the garden!
One month… That isn’t such a very long time, is it? (Yes, it absolutely is…)
Oh dear I can understand that. I have a seed catalogue which arrived yesterday and my list of seeds I really need is ridiculous. Of course I have no idea where the plants will all go, or whether I have the space and time to sow and prick them all out. But it is so hard to resist.
You must be very excited about the new garden, looking forward to reading about it
I tried to be disciplined and not order everything I FELT I needed, and mentally allocate a space in the garden for each purchase, but… I believe I may have lost the discipline a little towards the end!
And to be honest, I’m mostly excited about the house so far, because that HAS to be the top priority. And that’s where I can do the most planning and research in advance because I have documentation on it. That said, my shopping spree today was very thrilling, and I’m very excited about gardening in a very different environment from the old Flâneur Garden, where the soil was wet clay with a very shallow topsoil.
The new garden – whatever it’s name will become – is in one of the most fertile parts of Denmark with rich, dark soil quite deep, so it drains better and should be easier to dig. Which means a much bigger potential for a vegetable garden! The current vegetable garden is quite decent in size, so at least the first year a lot of it will be used to grow perennials to be planted out into the garden later on, and of course there’s the greenhouse for sowing semi-hardy annuals, tomatoes and whatnot. And the shed has a wonderful south-facing brick wall that I must be able to make use of…
As you see, I am making plans for the house, but there’s no way the garden will be neglected!
I think it’s a sign of a true gardener that you can manage to grow some plants no matter where you are — even in the courtyard of your temporary apartment. Seeds are cheap; if you can’t fit them all, you can make someone happy by giving some of them away.
By sheer, random luck my temporary apartment is in a building with an actual community, including a small urban vegetable garden in raised beds, so I’m harvesting from what others have sown – but then I did help digging when one of the borders had to be redone, so I’ve earned what little I have harvested from the garden.
The current vegetable patch in my coming garden is around 1,000 square feet, though, so there should be room for quite a lot of sowing and growing – and I’ve deliberately chosen a mix of early and late crops so I can get two sowings in one season in part of the vegetable garden.
I really can’t wait to get the keys to the place… 4 weeks from today!