Garden Update

When I started my garden this past spring I couldn't have foreseen what was to come. As I carefully cultivated my soil, worked in compost and chose my plants there was no way to tell that 2 months down the road I would have absolutely nothing to do with it anymore.

I should have seen the warning signs in retrospect. How my father gave me the evil eye as I was planting in a spot he didn't deem 'right'. Or how he scoffed at the spacing saying I'd not planted them far enough apart despite following every written direction I had at hand.

But about a week or two into the process it was becoming abundantly clear I was losing control of my own project, as he'd prod me awake at ungodly hours because I needed to water my garden at least twice a day. This after I'd read in my latest gardening magazine purchase that most people OVER-water their tomatoes. You can't tell men named Bob anything.

The piece de resistance came a few days after we returned from vacation when he doused the mother effing hell out of my plants with a combo of Miracle Grow and Sevin Dust. When he was finished an entire 5 pound bag of Sevin Dust was gone and my garden looked like a scene out of White Christmas.

I could have cried.

No, scratch that, I did cry. A lot. Because I wanted it to be organic. Because I knew that everything I read said that using Sevin Dust does nothing more than leave your plants vulnerable by killing the good bugs too and allowing the bad bugs to just come back stronger and less defended when the dust washes away.

And come back they did. Within weeks my plants were covered in cut worms. The leaves were browning and curling. One squash plant was dead with a capital D.

But he wasn't finished yet. Despite my protests that I'd decided to leave my tomatoes unstaked to allow a bigger yield of fruit he decided to wrap them with twine and in true Bob fashion...WAY too tight. So tight that weeks later as the fruit became ready to pick you almost couldn't get it out from the mess of twine. And immediately after the wrapping the yield slowed to an almost stand still.

It's not ended as this morning he picked a mess of tomatoes I would have not touched for days because he "doesn't want them to rot". I was livid. Crying, again for the thousandth time in regards to this garden.

I love my father, I really do. But it doesn't make up for us having what I will admit is a most difficult relationship. This garden has become the physical manesfestation of every problem we have. If I say the sky is blue he says it's yellow, if I say up he says down, if I say organic he says Sevin Dust.

So in the effort of being honest and upfront on my blog I felt I should update the garden disaster for everyone who asks me now, "how is your garden". My garden is a mess. My garden is not really my garden anymore. I'm trying to let that go.

But if left to my own devices and my own piece of land I feel confident that one day I could really garden gloriously. I'll just have to make sure my father doesn't visit.

In other progress news, my room makeover has stalled. Mostly due to a change in plans, since I'm now considering a 'fresh green' color palatte. When I finally set down the design magazines and start painting, you'll be the first to know. You know, if I ever decide to make a decision.

Photographic proof that despite what I have written here, I don't want you to think the garden has been a total waste. (Just not how I'd have done it. Which is hard for a control freak like me.)







Although I'm not kidding about the Sevin Dust. This was one of his lighter applications: