This is essentially a post about seeing the good that comes with the bad, even when they hit at the same time.
...
So at the moment, my garden is a little damp.
(yes, those are my pyjama pants)
I was so happy when it started to rain, as my garden had been getting very dry in the heat, I wasn't able to keep water up to it. I watched a few of my plants wither and die, I watched a few wither and was able to bring them back, which is always a good feeling.Then the rain set in.
It started pouring.
It didn't stop.
I became very worried about my garden, and this morning went out to survey the damage. The first few things I saw made me feel very sad.
This tub had held five newly-sprouted bean plants, from heirloom beans which had been a gift from a friend. I have more I can plant, but for now I'm sad for those I have lost, and that's ok.
My strawberry plant. This is all that remains. This plant was three years old, and had never been flooded like that in its life. This season was my first major crop of strawberries (you may know, a strawberry plant makes more fruit than last season every year)
Thyme. It wasn't the rain that killed it exactly, it was going from so dry to so wet very quickly. Thyme is very hardy.
Then I went into the main part of my garden, where I saw this:
At first what I really noticed was my "miniature garden" in the pink tub was completely wiped out, save for the chives, which I'm not sure you can kill even if you try, but then I noticed not only is my basil alive, but it's in flower!
This basil self-seeded from plants that grew from seeds I got from a discount bin for 15 cents.
And my favourite post-deluge find of all? This:
One of my purple king bean plants which I thought was dead from the heat, obviously not! Brought back from the brink by wonderful, life-giving rain.
So today I am thankful for my garden, I am thankful for the plants that have survived (roughly half, many more than are seen here), and I'm thankful for the rain, but I think we've had quite enough for a little while!
What do you choose to be thankful for?
Lots of love,
Cassandra Louise.
Yay for finding the upsides :) Also I totally killed chives recently. I'm not sure what that says about my gardening prowess or lack thereof ;)
ReplyDeleteHmmm... We'll just tell people the chives went on holiday...
DeleteMy garden sympathises.
ReplyDeleteI lost Thyme as well.
But my passionfruit has flowered for the first time... although my strawberries did super badly, but I didn't know thy improve with age!
So that is good news,
oxox
Very happy to hear about your passionfruit! It's great when at least something goes well.
DeleteMy first crop of straberries from this plant were very sweet but only fingernail sized, and only five berries for the whole season. This season's strawberries were usual sized, very flavoursome and sweet, and more than 30 berries for the season. Guess I'm starting again now, but it was nice while it lasted! :-)
I will be thankful if the rain stops long enough to get the kids to school without getting wet ;) then it can start again, well at least till pick up time. Hope the garden comes back stronger than before
ReplyDeleteThanks Rhianna! :-)
DeleteThe weather can be so brutal and it is disppointing when you have nurtured something and then it is gone... We have been so lucky here with the weather so far this year. Your basil looks amazing though! Make yourself a big bowl of pasta with basil pesto :)
ReplyDeleteIt does, doesn't it? I might just do that! :-)
DeleteMy garden is not doing so well with the rain either, but it is nice to see how nature fights back and rejuvenates. All the best with the garden! Sounds like it is an interesting place to hang out.
ReplyDeleteHooray for the good things! The deluge is affecting us too - we're partically roofless in the mid-stages of a renovation and the tarps just ain't cutting it at the moment! Oh well, we get to pretend we're camping in the front rooms, and, bizarrely, my little'un loves to mop things up. It's all yours, sweetie!
ReplyDeleteYour basil looks devine! I tried to grow basil, but sadly it died. The only herbs I've really had much success with are rosemary and parsley, and they grow out of control!
ReplyDeletethanks for showing us your garden, how lovely. I wish I have a garden. I live on the third floor in a walk up apartment. There's hardly any space for plants. It's wonderful to be thankful for the little things in life. These are the things that bring much joy to our life. Thanks for dropping by my blog, following you too!
ReplyDeletemongs
mythriftycloset.blogspot.com
My garden is great for stress relief, and connection to nature. I feel very grateful I have the space for it.
DeleteThank you for following back! I hope you enjoy my posts. :-)
That basil looks delicious! I can almost smell it from here!
ReplyDeleteI'm jealous of the fact that yu can grow a garden at all! I am a serial-plant-killer!
ReplyDelete