Victory Garden: To Plant a Garden is to Believe in Tomorrow
The Coronavirus quarantine has inspired my husband and me to go big with our vegetable garden this year. I love it. I often daydream about having an overflowing, abundant backyard garden full of delicious, nutritious fresh produce – tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries, and much more. This year, we’ve finally put in the work to make it happen, and we now have a vibrant victory garden growing out back.
Gardening is energizing, practical, and even magical in some ways. As Audrey Hepburn beautifully said, “to plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.” I totally agree. Planting a garden requires a vision of the future, decisions on how to set the stage, and daily acts of nurturing the plants.
Planter Boxes
We’ve added five giant raised bed planters in our backyard. We had three 8’x2′ boxes delivered from Home Depot and Amazon, and my husband built 4’x4′ and 3’x3′ boxes from extra lumber we had. We also got eight small oval wooden barrel containers. We got three yards of rich soil delivered from a local company to fill the planters. I believe the high-quality, loose soil will make all the difference in growing successful plants. It’s working well so far.
Seeds
We decided to grow all new plants from seed. We had a little difficulty sourcing seeds this year through delivery services, as we’re avoiding going into stores. We bought two big variety seed packs on Amazon that never showed up, due to high demand, and got refunded. My husband was able to successfully buy a set of rainbow-variety seed packs of tomatoes, carrots, pumpkins, bell peppers, habanero peppers, and beets. My backyard neighbor also gave me seeds for cucumbers, green beans, green onions, and cilantro. I found some sweet basil and purple basil seeds in my old gardening box. So I planted almost every seed I got my hands on.
Indoor Starts
The gardeners in my life recommended I plant starts indoors where it’s warm. That was intimidating to me, but I gave it a try. I planted big trays of seeds behind our kitchen sink, next to some south-facing windows with plenty of sunshine. I watered them every day, erring on the side of too much water. I was surprised and delighted that almost every seed germinated into a healthy little plant start.
Mini Greenhouse
This past weekend, in the chilly rain, I moved all the plant starts into a mini greenhouse in the backyard. My husband and I assembled the greenhouse. It has two big wire rack shelves, and we put two big plastic boot trays on each shelf to hold plants. I transplanted dozens and dozens of plant starts into little peat pots, where they now sit on the trays, so they can grow strong and robust. I also used some peat pots to plant seeds I found in grocery store watermelons and multi-colored bell peppers, and I’m hoping they’ll sprout. It’s all an experiment. Eventually, I’ll plant the matured peat-potted plant starts directly into the soil in the planter beds and barrels. The roots will grow right through the peat pots. We’ve been sourcing almost all our gardening supplies on Amazon, just because we’re familiar with their delivery system.
Outdoor Seed Planting
A few weeks ago, I planted some hardier seeds straight into the raised bed planters, and they’re already sprouting nicely. We have green beans, beets, pumpkins, and tons of carrots – because my son loves them. I planted some mixed potatoes from the grocery store: Yukon Gold, sweet, and red potatoes. This last weekend, I ruthlessly thinned the carrots, as my mother suggested, so each little plant will have plenty of room to grow.
Perennial Plants
Elsewhere in the garden, we have plenty of perennial plants, planted in years past, in the process of producing fruits and vegetables. There’s asparagus, garlic chives, apples, red currants, strawberry-tree strawberries and a massive amount of regular strawberries.
Good Times Ahead
I love it all. It’s great to have a little victory garden. The harvest will be wonderful, and it gets us outside, nurturing and interacting with nature, which is priceless. I’m excited for what the future holds. Do you have a garden? Or would you like to? I’d really enjoy hearing about your victory garden or plans, if you’d like to share.
