Since we’re so very indoorsy and don’t know how to do much yard stuff, and because I am a known even notorious crop-killer, I met with a woman who does landscape/yard stuff to talk about getting some gardens put in and some help/instruction around keeping food plants alive and hopefully getting them to produce, you know, FOOD. It was a fantastic meeting, outdoors in our yard, both of us masked and socially distant. I showed her all my spots of abject failure and semi-success and we talked about what it is we want to do and how to get that going. She was, of course, very positive and certain with the right help even I can garden successfully. I’m actually hopeful! We’re looking at having the existing ornamental beds cleaned out and possibly filling in empty spots with more productive plants as well as having actually food gardens put in and more berry bushes installed with some kind of actual plan. She took soil samples to be tested which is, apparently, step one.

Even though I’m sure it made me look like a total spaz I asked if all the mint I have so painstakingly tended, with mediocre results, could be carefully dug up and given a place in the new garden. She did try to warn me that mint is crazy but I pointed out that with YEARS of encouragement it has made minimal gains under my tender mercy so I’m guessing it will get it’s own little area which is fine by me. I have peppermint and spearmint growing and I love them. She says we can do an herb garden and a vegetable garden, a berry patch and so on, maybe fruit trees! It’ll have to happen in stages of course, she probably prefers to be paid and stuff. My art studio/hippy fort/shed is back-burnered for now because being able to produce some of our own food is just a bigger priority. Part of my childhood we had a nice garden and it was lovely to be able to run outside and just pick fresh veggies that immediately made their way onto our table.

I need to make a list of veggies, fruits, herbs and berries I want to grow and she’s going to help me make it happen. I warned her that I am going to go pretty mental and list a million things and she might have to help me pare it down to something reasonable and, especially, point out items that are hard to grow/easy to kill. I want:

• at least one apple tree *
• more raspberries and help keeping them “nice” *
• lingonberries
• mint
• rosemary
• dill
• cilantro
• onions
• scallions*
• garlic*
• red peppers
• broccoli
• cauliflower
• zucchini*
• summer squash
• lettuce
• winter squash*
• hot peppers
• cantaloupe
• tomatillos*
• Pumpkins
• at least one pepper tree
• a nectarine tree
• Potatoes
• carrots
• parsnips
• beets
• chickpeas
• kidney beans
• navy beans
• green beans
• long beans
• maybe grapes!

I mean… obviously Not all at once… but I’d like to get at least some of this going and then build on it over time, build up to where we have a nice variety of veggies and fruit and such. I want to be able to say that we are not completely dependent on other people for our food. Ideally we will eventually have some sort of greenhouse, some chickens, maybe a nice little sheep or 2? We’re also looking at installing a hedge along the road. … … … man, that is a lot of stuff and it is the tip of the iceberg. I think this project in particular will be worth all the effort. I know it is a little crazy to pay someone to help with this, food gardens should save money and this one will take ages to break even, BUT I can’t do this without help, I’ve proven that over and over again, and this way I might actually succeed. Plus the goal isn’t precisely to save money, it’s more to have the ability to produce food. So, yeah, I think it will be a win if my blight druid tendencies can be conquered at last. I am so excited about this!