Project: Sprout & About

Right now, when writing this, I am sitting on the terrace, under the bright spring Sun, feeling the energizing beams of life on my skin, slowly warming the body and soul. I relax my eyelids and squint to see better. Birds are singing in every direction around me. There is one on the grass, it’s the black type, blackbird, as they call it. Me and him have a secret to keep. I know that one of them chose the tall tree on the right as their nesting place. I have seen it fly in and fly out, but I act like I haven’t seen anything. This is our secret, and I am happy that the bird is feeling safe enough to stay so close. So much as to create its nest just a few meters away from me.

At the beginning of the year, I recognize that I have been a rather dreamy person, even melancholic, sad at least. It has been tough to create content (even if for myself), but anything related to tiny sprouts keeps bringing me joy. I know that now it is time to take a deep breath and dive a little deeper. And even in the midst of it all, I am very excited about the new beginnings.

The second year is starting a bit slower than the last, but that’s because I now have had to prioritize my tasks and the rare time I have to do any garden work. This year, I am a bit on a schedule (having a regular job, I mean), and this change has made me a lot more intuitive in gardening. This newer approach has allowed me to periodize the different things I can do at a given moment. It has made Sprout&About a bit more bite-sized maybe.

Early this spring, on one of my days off, I covered the plants (only the vine and the grass onion) in the greenhouse with plastic, removed everything that was reasonably removable (after long thinking, I decided not to clean the decorative rocks this time), and washed the whole thing inside and out. Dirty, tough work, and honestly, not my favourite part, very far from it. Anyway, it’s done, and it was important, looking forward to the growing season. The future me will thank the now-me.

And because of some of the reasons mentioned before, I also started to sow the seeds quite late this time. It was sometime in the latter part of March. Over time, I have noticed how my approach to gardening has gotten a new twist. I feel like I have leveled up. I have 1 year of experience behind me, and I’m bringing a bunch of lessons learnt into the new chapter. Feels like I am understanding gardening and nature a little bit more and better now. Call me crazy? Nevertheless, I find myself a little bit more relaxed this time around, more intuitive, and a tiny bit more confident as well. And it is definitely true that, due to my current life situation, I will definitely benefit from being more organized and effective with this all.

At the time of sowing (or time before that), I was sure I was going to have the same “regulars” such as tomatoes, cucumbers, pumpkin, and herbs. But I must confess that although last year I was vigorously hyping over the tomatoes and how much I love them, and in every shape and form, it no longer holds the same position on the altar. As it turns out, tomatoes were relatively easy to grow. Just remember to stick to the rules, and that would take you through it, even until winning at it, so I learned. But what I came to understand, what I need deep inside, is the thrill. I am afraid tomato does not have it anymore for me (I still very much like them though). It’s the excitement of anticipation, trials, errors, and finally the wow moments of succeeding at something that wasn’t expected to work out. So I cannot help it, but I got hooked on the feeling of succeeding at something unexpected while I am seeking ever-new adventures.

To experience the unknown, I added to the mix a few newcomers. Experiments like sticking the sweet potato (organic, of course) into the soil have been really rewarding, so far. There are roots forming and several tiny sweet potato sprouts growing from the root vegetable. In addition, I am also experimenting with a new variety of watermelon, brussels sprouts (which apparently are super tough to grow), and celery, which is also new to me. This year, I got excited and thought I would start by sowing a different variety of marigolds, add maiz (because, popcorn!), and take a leap of faith with the French bean that last year didn’t germinate at all. Believe me, when I say that the level of excitement was through the roof when I saw two of them reaching to the sky. And oh, how they grow so incredibly fast!

Next, I had to strategize where I would put all these tiny sprouts. Here and now, I can proudly say that the research has been made, and the plan is, as tangible as it can be, on a piece of paper. But you bet that since I had that paper done, I had to get my hands in the dirt and start building up the garden beds again. The garden beds that are in the greenhouse have been emptied of about a third of the old soil, and fresh soil and fresh compost have been added as a more nutrient-rich replacement. I put so much love into preparing those garden beds that, although I had to improvise with the new soil mixture, I hope that it’s the energy I put into it that’s going to allow my plants to thrive.

And then there is rotation. I had not heard of a concept like crop rotation before, and I am glad I did sooner rather than later. Cucumber is definitely not going to that garden bed where it was last year! Funnily enough, I thought it had to be done quite the opposite way… But why should they? How foolish of me. Live and learn. And certainly, similarly to last year, in my planning, I prioritized companion planting on every corner of the garden and minimizing any detergents or pest repellents as much as possible. Making it as natural as possible. Doing it as naturally as I can.

So here we are, a couple of hours later, in the descending sunlight, shyly anticipating the opportunity to go and check on the tiny sprouts growing. Is there a name for that feeling? Is it normal? Why does one get so excited about them, tiny sprouts! Could this actually be the normality that I haven’t experienced before, just to realize now that this is what it is all about? Harmoniously working with nature. Whatever it was, that is to say, here we go again.

Psst, love to see you doing your thing, black buddy.