The Green(ish) Thumb
"There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments." - Janet Kilburn Phillips
I fully live and breathe this quote.
My gardening journey began three years ago. Before that, I killed everything I tried to grow. If a friend gave me a plant it wouldn’t last long. But there was something that I thought so profound in being able to provide food for my family without relying on the grocery stores or other people. Without having to worry about where it was coming from and what it was being exposed to. Don’t get me wrong, I 100% support our local agricultural gurus, however I wanted to be able to provide for myself.
So, my first year gardening I got everything I thought I needed. Starter pots. Seeds. Watering can. A tiller. And I got to work. Everything started off fine. Some of my seeds did not sprout but all in all when it came time to plant. I had quite the little collection going. Tomatoes, onions, jalapeños. I also planted some corn and pumpkin. Well, weeds and grasshoppers was the death of my garden that year.
Then 2020 hit…
So our local Home Depot remained open as an essential business and I took a day and got everything I would need (again). Starter pots and seeds. I went home, planted them all in late February. I stuck with a few herbs: basil, thyme, oregano, and sage. For my vegetables I planted tomatoes, jalapeños, habaneros, and banana peppers. Things started to look up when all of my plants sprouted except for the banana peppers. I still have no clue why those were the ones that did not sprout.
In early May I built my garden beds. Filled them with topsoil and transplanted all of my little sprouts in mid-June. Montana weather can be unpredictable so I waited until I was sure we were free and clear from any chance of frost and snow.
Destruction struck again.
The deer decided to break into by garden one night. The next morning was carnage. All of my plants were uprooted and thrown around. Some plants were completely nibbled down to the stems. It was heartbreaking to see all of the hard work I had put in completely destroyed in a moment. But once I pulled myself back together, I gave my wounded soldiers a little TLC, replanted them, and prayed for the best.
Even with the destruction I ended up getting a pretty good yield that year.
