Project: Sprout & About

The plants in the greenhouse are happy. I basically now have to just check that everything looks good, and that’s about it, do the basic things. Some of the plants are so happy that I had to dig them out and replant them elsewhere (like the marigolds, they grow huge!)

Naturally, I needed to get my hands on something new.

In no time, I had found myself a new task, and so the past few days, I have been working hard in the garden plot. There was still a small spot in the corner with nothing growing, so the other day, I spent almost 6 hours non-stop, creating the perfect spot for the next brave sprouts to grow. You guessed it, carrots! Well, and I also did some other things too, because even if I had decided to sow more carrots, it wasn’t going to be just throwing the seeds into the ground and GO!

It was going to be more like ”Oh, but before you can do the carrots, you should do this, then move that, then think what to put there, and THEN you can do carrots”.

And like it was all warm sunny days and the old compressed soil was easy to shovel, and it wasn’t full of weeds, and the new mulch and soil bags didn’t weigh like 20 kilograms each. No, then it starts raining, and everything becomes dirty and messy, and the mosquitoes love you SO MUCH that all you can do is to tighten the hoodie a bit more over your face, so that you barely see anything. While trying to move around in your muddy boots, you take heavy breaths to calm yourself down instead of throwing the gloves and shovel right there and leave.

Nope, I was not going to give up! And besides, the moon was in the right position for sowing a root vegetable. I could not let this important moment slip away! I knew that this was part of the harder, more masculine work that had to be done, and it had to be done once. If I do it right the first time, I could enjoy the more nurturing, feminine side of gardening later.

So, rain or shine, mosquitoes or butterflies, I reminded myself that making a good base now is key to successful growth in the future. And that’s what this is all about. That’s why I am doing this, because it’s a process. Apart from the bumpy start, I promise that the journey has been very enjoyable, and the garden plot is going through a good transformation.

A little background check for starters. The carrots are not the first thing that I had sown in the garden plot outside. There are already three growing beds with their companion plants that I have been taking care of for a month or so. The tomato experiments found itself with lettuce, thyme, and marigolds in one bed. Cucumber and squash, good ol’ pals, are growing slowly, but they are still growing, with more lettuce and beetroot. On one side, we have two brave pumpkin plants and the French bean sown on the other edge, although there are still no signs of that bad boy… Compared to the same plants growing in the greenhouse, I guess it is no big surprise that inside they are growing at an unimaginable speed. Many factors can play a role here, but I doubt it is the colder (and harsh) conditions and the poorer soil. 

Speaking of, this serves me the perfect place to start the conversation about the carrots, the main character of this post. The reason for that, drum roll, I LOVE carrots. I go crazy for carrot juice. When I was a kid, I visited my best friend, and after hours of fun and games, she used to come up with this improvised fried carrot dish seasoned with herbs. It was the best summer thing ever, and I never knew how to do it better than her. Also, in my childhood home, we used to grow carrots, and for some reason, I remember so vividly picking the carrots from their lush green leaves and always being surprised by the different forms they would come out of the soil, joyfully laughing at their imperfect perfect shapes. What I am trying to say is that carrots are amazing, and I have great memories with them. I would choose a sweet carrot cake as a dessert any time, and what about a carrot purée soup, like the best things ever. Is it obvious now that I HAD to have carrots included in Sprout & About? Hahaha. Yes, it should be.

The problem is that the garden plot where I planned to grow carrots is very old. I was told that the soil has never really been suitable for carrots, and truth be told, I have no recollection of them being grown here. My new challenge is to make the soil suitable for carrots and prove everyone wrong because, you know, I have a big green thumb, or two actually, and I can grow anything. Just joking. I am not trying to fight against nature (or anyone); all the contrary, I am trying to work with what I have. What we know for a fact is that in this garden plot, apples, blueberries, wild strawberries, and redcurrants grow phenomenally. With the little gardening experience I have, I can confidently say that this is surely because of the acidity of the soil. Carrots, on the other hand, prefer a lighter, more neutral soil, and too much organic matter can make the carrots grow leaves instead of a nice root. Or cause them other growing problems…

But what do I say to that? CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!

What could I lose anyway? If everyone were right about the soil conditions and nature wouldn’t work with me in the end, I would accept it as a hard lesson learnt in the making, and I would be happy that at least I tried. Also, the waiting part is so exciting that I could also do it just for that. I am waiting for the moment when I can pull out the green leaves and, with a kid-like anticipation, be thrilled to see what can be found underneath the earth. Yes, I am a kid ❤

Honestly speaking, there’s also the fourth garden bed that I had previously prepared. That’s where I did my first carrot experiments of Sprout & About. You bet, I was so happy when those carrot experiments started to sprout. Yes, they’re growing! Seeing those sprouts is actually the reason I even thought that this might still be possible. It got me so inspired to do more. Maybe it is possible to grow carrots in this old soil after all? Still, I got to slow down and note that even if they are growing leaves, it doesn’t mean that they wouldn’t turn out all curled up, cracked, or something. However, it didn’t matter; it got my hopes up, and that was enough motivation for me to try more.

Since I had a small corner of the garden plot still to be filled with something, I planned to go with the carrots, kale, and late-summer flowers. These would still have time to grow before our short summer season ends. I am not going to go too deep into all the preparations I did before, but there is something that deserves to be mentioned. I am tapping myself on the shoulder while I share this here. The whole garden plot got now a nice wooden edges or ”frames” and I am so content with the result. I sowed some grass seeds on the edges and in a few weeks, it should be nice and green, separating the garden plot from the grass field. This was quite dirty work, and after finishing the edges, I put some new mulch for prettier coverage on the inside.

Now, can we finally talk about the process of sowing the carrots!? Yes, I will explain. To my luck, we had one more garden bed left in the basement that I was going to use here. The kale would come after, next week, when the moon is right, but I still prepared the soil ready since I was working with the shovel anyway. The spot for the carrot is quite sunny, whereas the kale will be in a slightly more shady place behind the carrot bed, both ideal spots for each plant. First, I did my best, turning the soil around, collecting rocks, roots, and old potatoes (yes, they are everywhere! And they are carrots’ enemies).

And more importantly, what I needed to do was to try to make the soil a bit more airy and loose with more nutrients and a higher pH. That’s what had to be done for both of them, but for the carrot, even more crucial.

Aspiring to be an organic gardener as much as possible, I had collected eggshells over the spring, but I wasn’t sure exactly where I would be using them. When I started this project, I learnt from other gardeners that one could use the eggshells as a source of calcium or as a snail repellent. Certainly, it’s also a small eco-effort. After all, the tomatoes didn’t seem to need that in the greenhouse, so I was left with plenty of extra material. Turns out, crushed (and desinfected, of course) eggshells would help neutralize the old soil and make it more suitable for these future baby carrots (because fingers crossed, it was going to work, right). All I could do was hope that the hard eggshells would dissolve on the ground and help me with the carrots. Then, a barrow wheel amount of fresh compost, some sand, and certainly, two bags of new garden soil got into the mix as well.

I was happy about the hard work. I know it’s improvisation at its best, but I am fully owning this project, for better or worse. I guess I can say that I am in the trial-and-error era of my gardening journey, so really, anything is possible at this point. Call it hopeful gardening.

It felt (and it still feels) great once the hard physical job is done ❤

Of course, I was not going to forget about companion planting, so the carrot got parsley growing in the middle for pest control and a marigold in one corner. I covered the bed with a white fabric to retain moisture; carrots take quite some time to sprout anyway.

And here I am, celebrating my small-big efforts, looking at the hard work I have done with my own hands. The garden plot looks cleaner, more organized, and as we get closer to July, everything gets greener and well, more like a garden I was hoping for with lush green plants. The only thing missing now is the kale, some more mulch, and more weeding. In a couple of days, we will have a waxing moon, so it’s going to be the perfect time for the kale.

So all in all, the carrots, those juicy, crunchy roots that go with everything and are loaded with vitamins, were a lot more work than I had imagined, haha. Partly, of course, because I created that work for myself. Nevertheless, the amount of love that I poured into this tiny corner of the garden plot must work its magic. I am hoping that I have contributed to the versatile ecosystem of my garden and made the garden plot a tiny bit more interesting and functional.

A thought related to this process: even if it’s improbable and hard work, but you have the vision, then do it anyway, it might just work out ❤