PORCH PONDERINGS

Play in Dirt

PROMPT March 3rd

Do you have a green thumb? Are you a gardener? Do you want to be?

I took a master gardening course a few years back. That was informative. Sort of like being back in a biology course. It helped me to understand the challenges of trying to garden in this part of Montana. Combine a short growing season with bad soil and bad water. It all adds up to a big challenge. And those of you who sometimes read my blog remember that grasshopper scourge of last year. I pray our -30° temps for that stretch earlier in February were enough to kill the buggers. But if not, we are on the waiting list for some natural biological bait to kill them.

Now I hear that there is a shortage of seeds. We have some left over from last year, so we should be good. The only seeds we ordered were some heirloom tomatoes. A friend with a greenhouse will start them for us, then give us some plants. I’ll plant some seed potatoes, some kale, some peas, some carrots, some beets and then some tomato plants. We also have some asparagus plants and a raspberry plant that is only a few years old. Hollyhocks and wildflowers volunteer in the garden space, much to my husband’s dismay. He thinks the garden is a jungle and always complains about it. I love the chaos.

I worry that the cold spell may have killed the asparagus roots. We've been waiting for 5 years now to harvest them. Plus I am worried about that raspberry plant.

Another challenge to my garden this year is a sewer project we have scheduled for mid-March. We’ve had some clogged sewers recently and have been told we probably need to replace the entire line from the house to the city hook-up. Charming.

Guess where the sewer line goes? Bingo! You’re right! Right under the garden. In fact, right through the middle of the garden. So they will have to dig down about 4 or 5 feet. We may have to take out some of the 8 foot fence, but I pray not.

But gardening here doesn’t really start til after Mother’s Day or later. So I should have time to repair any damage done. We’re also going back East in April so I won’t have to look at the ravaged garden space for a week or so.

If you’ve never gardened before, my advice is to start with something small. Get a tomato plant in a pot. Love it, but not too much.