Garden fails and travails

When thinking about food storage, it is natural to think about gardening. Yes, the two have been long associated with emergency preparedness (along with 72-hour kits), but also you naturally think of how growing some things could augment your available food stores.

I keep trying.

My issues are not all related to growing food; I have also been trying to move away from the lawn to something more natural and environmentally friendly.

I had successfully killed the lawn two years ago, and was going to start putting in some trees and shrubbery. The "call before you dig" marks made that look like a bad idea, so I was not sure what to do, but I had gotten in a nice crop of clover, which I had started to really like.

The heat dome last year seared the clover to death, and then the grass grew back. I had a lawn again, though it looked worse than before.

I was looking for solutions and decided I was going to try sheet mulching. I knew I wasn't going to be able to get it all done at once, but I got some cardboard and some mulch and started.

It was a lot harder than I thought it would be.

Okay, after some re-evaluating, I was just going to have to hire someone to till it. That is disruptive to the soil, but that will get the front done all at once. I calculated when I wanted to plant, and counted back three weeks to when it should be tilled.

In a twist opposite of the heat dome, we have had cool rains. They did attempt to till, but the soil was still too wet, and then it rained some more.

I am not sure when it will be completed, but I know my growing schedule is off.

I need to regroup again, and I do not have a new plan. I may just end up planting creeping thyme, and not get any crops this year. I have thought about starting plants indoors, but nothing seems quite right yet.

I have at times done container gardening, and I have had a community garden bed, and I have grown potatoes in a patch in the back yard. Everything I have tried has had some failures, though I have learned from them.

I guess I am continuing to learn.

I do not deny that it is discouraging, and I certainly wish I had started learning earlier or faster.

The main factor that remains is faith. My attempts to grow food (and also to be in harmony with nature) have not gone well. I would not say that I have had success.

I do believe that efforts can be rewarded in different ways. I might add more canned fruit to the food storage this year, but maybe I be growing food next year.

Maybe as global climate change worsens, being able to adapt on the fly will be more important.

As important it is to not give up, it may be equally important to be able to accept failure, at least temporarily.

I wish you well in your endeavors.