It seems appropriate that I should write a blog about my new little garden as Father's day approaches. My dad was an avid gardener and through a little gift far beyond the grave, he inspires me today in my own little vegetable garden.
Sometime back in February I began a pre-spring cleaning project... weeding out an overly filled junk drawer filled with lots of unnecessary stuff. As I pulled away at bits of this and that, as is usually the case in these type cleaning projects, I came across 2 little gems! I immediately recognized them as something dad gave me a long time ago. The tiny little pill bottles inscribed with dad's shaky handwriting read "Domenics Tometos - 2001" and "Tometo Azzure - 2001".
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| Dad's Tomato seeds |
I took that as a message from dad that I should probably begin gardening again.
I immediately purchased a little seeding kit with 76 little spaces for all different kinds of seeds, reserving 24 for dad's seeds. I realized these were 12 year old seeds, but I had complete faith they would grow, channeling dad the entire time I planted. Dad's voice was with me. He was saying, "be sure to plant them when there's a full moon." What I thought was non-sense when I was much younger makes total sense to me now. Many an Internet article validated dad's methods.
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Burpee 76 seeding kit. Notice the seedlings at the top.
Those are dads seeds growing a bit lanky, but alive and well.
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After a few days under the plastic cover of the Burpee kit, I began to see sprouts - those which were Domenico's tomatoes. The Azzuro tomatoes didn't seem to want to sprout as easily. What surprised me was that each seed seemed to have it's own time for sprouting. Some popped up immediately, anxious to come to life. Others took their time and shyly made their way to the surface as long as two weeks after sowing, which totally surprised me. Each seemed to be as unique as we are as human beings: we come from the same family but are each very different and unique souls with different personalities.
Time passed and I enjoyed nurturing all of my little seedlings. In many ways I am understanding my father and relating to him in ways that I didn't when he was alive. How wonderful to continue in relationship with him even though he is no longer in this physical world. I've come to understand that my father's gentle approach with raising us and living his life was also how he cared for his garden. Slow, steady, working every day, making sure each and every one of us was safe and secure and loved. It's amazing how he cared for his garden in that very same way.
The soil in my garden is not as rich as dad's. His years of care of the soil made for rich, deep, dark brown, lush dirt. I will need to keep working at mine and someday it may be as rich as dad's. To help things along, I planted 3 4x4 raised beds. It was an easy to put together cedar wood kit purchased at Home Depot. Little by little I pulled the grass, and churned the soil with a handy tool. I'm not one to enjoy sweating to hard work, but this just didn't feel like work to me. I felt as though I was preparing a space for babies. Afterall, this was my nursery, the place for me to nurture my little ones.
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Early spring preparing the beds for planting.
Notice my handy-dandy gardening tool to churn the soil,
thanks to my husband's good thinking!
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My little seedlings had grown quite large, and perhaps a little tangled and gnarly. I tested a few by removing them from their now too little home and placed them in compostable, slightly larger pots. I took time to harden them outside as the temperatures warmed, careful they wouldn't blow too roughly in the wind. The water levels were always carefully watched, and overall, most did well. I lost a few along the way. Even though I expected to lose a few, it saddened me.
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| Tomato plants grew, albeit a bit tangled and gnarly. |
I kept tracking the forecast, hoping each day that I'd not see less than 50 degrees in the overnight temperatures. Mother's day passed, and still temperatures in the 40s overnight. Finally in mid-May, all seemed fine for planting and I transplanted about 5 tomatoes. I reserved some for later planting should the first few fail. Being an inexperienced gardner, I didn't want to set them all out immediately because I just didn't know if they needed more time indoors or more time for hardening in their little pots.
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5 transplanted tomato plants on the left:
3 of Domenic's Tomatoes and 2 Azzuro.
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Two of the five tomato plants shown above unfortunately didn't make it. Today is June 12th, and I planted 2 other healthy hardened ones in their place. Tomorrow I will add a few more. I am hoping for a pleasant Father's day with no rain. In honor of dad, that morning I will plant the rest. I'll imagine his hands lovingingly placing them in the soil. I'll imagine how beautifully he nurtured his garden. But most of all, I'll remember how much I loved him and he loved me.
Thanks, Dad, for all you've given me.
This is for you.
