Our Garden

Yesterday, my housemates and I spent most of the afternoon in our front garden, turning the soil and planting a new crop of warm-season vegetables. By the end of it we were all hot, sweaty and covered in a fine dust-like layer of dirt and cow manure. We probably stank. We were exhausted. We were a little sunburnt. But boy we were proud!

We’re looking forward to a crop of mint, pumpkins, Lebanese cucumbers, snow peas, and butter beans; and we’re hoping that this lot of coriander will take better than the last one.

I love our little garden. And yesterday I realised why people say gardening is good for the soul. It’s hard work – and it’s dirty work! – but there is something incredibly satisfying in planting something and helping it grow. Not to mention that we’re trying really hard to have an organic garden, and we’re using the castings and liquid fertiliser from our worm farm (the worms are all named Barry, in case you’re interested – I have a strangely close relationship with this bunch of slimey things). And you can't help but feel good about yourself if you know you're avoiding using chemicals on your food crops.

In my opinion, watering your own garden in the early evening is perhaps one of the most relaxing things you can do. Yesterday we also bought a mini water tank (100 litres), in which we will put the clean water we catch from the shower while it’s heating up. So yesterday evening, with the aforementioned stink settling into our skin, we stood out in the garden watering and admiring our handiwork. The smiles on our faces couldn't have been bigger.

So, now that I’ve babbled for long enough about how much I love our garden and how hard we’re trying to minimise our negative impact on our surroundings, I’ll get to the point. About once a month I’m going to try to post a picture of some of our produce. Above is a picture of some carrots we harvested yesterday.

I'm amazed that I can help bring something like this to life, and it inspires me to try my hand at other creative pursuits as well. I hope our little garden might help inspire you too.

Watch out for the new monthly project tomorrow.