WHAT I GROW IN MY GARDEN: DIRT

I am not sure of the main reason for my dedication to growing my own fruit and vegetables. Even though I have always lived in rentals, apartments and houses, I have always grown some produce, even if it just a herb garden. I know growing up Dad always had massive backyard garden, full of produce. I know when I was trying to fall pregnant I took a good look at my diet and knew the organic whole foods were the best thing for my body.  

But this week when I was out in the yard giving the garden a good weed and dig, I was reminded of one of the important reasons that I keep a garden. My Little Dirt Boy, my little farmer loves the earth so much. I think every child needs to grow up being able to play in the dirt. This is why in every veggie patch I have I also have a patch of dirt. Just for Jarvis. 

WHAT I GROW IN MY GARDEN: SPINACH

This week's post is dedicated to Catlin at Mother Down Under. 

Cutting from Dad's Spinach. 

I have been growing my own veggies two for almost two years, experimenting with what works and what doesn't. Always trying to incorporate a lot of what we cook with. Yet until Catlin did this post I have never thought to grow our own spinach.

Now I have not one, but two varieties. I went to Dad's and got a cutting of his climbing spinach. This I put in a pot. Then I cheated a little, and went to Bunnings and got spinach seedlings. I normally try to grow all mine from seeds. However since I planted over three weeks ago and the weather is turning cold I did not want the spinach to fall behind. It will be interesting to see which grows better.

Retail Seedling. 

This week I am asking for advice. What should I and should I not be doing to get a bumper crop? 

WHAT I GROW IN MY GARDEN: SMALL BOYS

The garden is just not for me. It is not just a place to grow organic vegetables. It is not just a place for the chickens to roam. It is Jarvis's place to play, to explore and to learn. He loves the garden. As a baby, taking him out to watch the trees would calm him down. Now as a toddler, the garden offers so much more.

Every afternoon, Jarvis wants to go up and water. Even when it is raining. 

Every experience counts! Babies and young children are learning all the time, with most learning taking place in relationships. The best place to find challenge, wonder, beauty, wisdom and pure joy is in the garden. The easiest way to do this is to provide experiences that will appeal to toddlers while allowing you to be close enough to keep an eye on things.

Jarvis enjoys digging, weeding, moving things in his wheelbarrows and watering plants.

So when we dug, and replanted, the garden for winter crops, much to Dad's dismay (he believes in planting as much as possible to produce a huge range of food) we left a Jarvis patch.

The Jarvis patch. 

Jarvis helped Dad and I dig the soil, then his favourite thing is to poke seeds into the soil. Dad is more than a little OCD like me, and we both would have liked rows of the same seeds. But Jarvis was in charge of the seeds, so this winter they have been planted with wild abandonment. I can't wait to see how and what grows.

So not only is the garden a place for Jarvis to learn and grow. But, also to Jarvis's it is a place to dig and get as muddy as possible. So I guess in my garden I am also growing a small boy. 

We have had to net the garden, the chickens think it is just for them. A wonderland of seeds and seedlings to consume. 

CRANKY PANTS

I came home from work today, and put on my cranky pants. They were so tight, they were choking me. The only thing to do? Throw a childish tantrum and ask "Am I the maid?". Which is obviously ridiculous, because Maids gets paid to clean up other people's crap. I work in retail, so I get paid to be spoken to like crap.

So after stomping around the house for awhile, I realised the only thing to do was to go and play in the dirt. With the chickens following me around, I dug in the soil. Turning over the earth until my cranky pants disappeared.

It was then I got to appreciate my surroundings. The plenitude of flowers on the cucumber plants, the sudden growth of the corn, even the pretty Barbie ribbons tied around the tomato trees. Talking to the 'girls', I felt the tension leave me.

The black chicken is the friendliest, she follows me closely when ever I am in the yard. The girls may have been a gift for Jarvis from Dad, but they certainly make me happy as well.

Yes, they are still "The Girls", or in Jarvis's case Duck, Duck, Duck.

 Any suggestions for names?

 My old wrinkly gardening knee, best solution for tantrums

ONE THING BECAME ANOTHER

So yesterday started off one way and ended in another. The morning was a productive hive of energy in the garden, Dad came over, and while I mowed and whipper sniped, He dug up garden beds and re-arranged planters. Jarvis got in on the act with his wheel barrow and pottered around collecting thing. Tamika sat on the door step drinking tea and taking photos.

It was a beautiful sunny autumn day, we discussed what we were going to plant and where. Dad wants to build even more garden beds as he thinks we have grown way too many seedlings. We were over near the passionfruit vine discussing how full of fruit it was, Jarvis was beside us digging in the dirt, an activity he loves, when our day changed.

(For those who have a squimsh tummy may want to stop reading)

Jarvis feel off the garden bed, not a big fall about twenty centimetres, but he fell face first into a metal garden spike. He was silent when I picked him up, I am not sure if it was my scream that made him cry, or the pain had set in. But I could not help myself, when I picked up my baby his face was covered in blood and it was spurting out of his face.

I ran upstairs with Jarvis in my arms, to get a clean cloth to put pressure on the bleed, and to try to wipe away some of the blood. By the time I got upstairs I was covered in blood and it was dripping off my arm. When I saw my baby’s blood dripping off me in a puddle on the bathroom floor I lost it a little.

This is Jarvis, after we had washed away the blood, This wash blood that was fresh and would not stop. This is the 'best' photo we have, as in the least amount of blood.

Tamika was amazing; she called the ambulance and helped Jarvis into the bath. The triple 000 operator told us to wash him down to find out where the source of blood was coming from and to apply firm pressure to the site. While Tamika was on the phone to triple 000, I called Justin. I do not want to think of how fast he rode his bike from the Valley to Camp Hill, but he arrived about the same time as the ambulance.

They were amazing, I have always said I could never ever be an ambulance worker, these two were so good. As soon as they, and Justin, arrived I felt calmer. I held Jarvis while they tapped his nose back together, and then dressed him as quickly and as gently as I could. I then turned to the ambulance lady and said we were ready to go. She gently told me to go wash myself up a bit and change my clothes. Tamika and I looked at each other and both realised we were covered in blood and looked like something from a horror show,

The ride to the Mater Children’s was so quick, but once there it was a long long wait. On arrival we were assessed and told Jarvis would need a plastic surgeon. Jarvis was such a good boy, no tears, no misbehaving, the only time he got cranky was when he saw other people eating. How do you tell your starving 16 month old they cannot have anything to drink or eat because they may have to have surgery?

Finally we see the surgeon, it was only a three hour wait but it felt like forever. I think we got the nicest doctor ever. She was so gentle and calm. Her assessment: Jarvis’s cut was extremely deep, however because it was such a clean cut and he did not chip into the bone, plus because he was so well behaved she thought she could get away with gluing his face back together rather than having to put him under and stitch his face.

So end of the story we have a little man with a glued face. Who came home and climbed the furniture as if nothing had happened.

I want to say a huge thank you to the two ambulance drivers, (I did ask their names, but cannot remember) the staff at the Mater Children’s Emergency Department, and to the amazing doctor. Thank you for helping a woman covered in blood, mud, and cow poo remain calm, and most of all thank for looking after my little Man. Jarvis you were so well behaved yesterday, I am so proud of you.

Photos were all taken by Tamika. 

EATING FROM THE GARDEN

The New Year has bought our first crop from the garden. Bok Choy and lettuce, are all now ready to enjoy. I am so please with the results, especially since it is the first time I have ever done any gardening. The more time I spend in the garden with dirt on my hands, the more I am enjoying it. It is such a technological world, and the garden brings me back to the earth. Plus, so far, it is has been easy (especially since Dad helped me with so much).

WHERE THERE IS LIFE, THERE IS GROWTH

Now it is a waiting game. After all of the hard work, of clearing out the mess that was our backyard, building the garden beds, and shoveling the dirt, the planting of the seeds and seedlings seems very calm. In only one week since planting happened, there is life. The seedlings are taller and stronger, and the seeds have turned into tiny little seedlings.

I got the grass in two lots (from the same place) and it is clear that Friday's grass is healthier than Thursday's grass. Fingers crossed that Thursday's grass can survive. I learnt that you do not Google 'grass', that it is turf or lawn. I found some very interesting ways to grow and care for another sort of grass altogether. I am tempted to go back and get some more for the bare patches. But I set myself a budget, and with the last four sheets of turf I have reached my limit. Wonder if it would be strange if I asked Santa for some grass?

In the large bed there is lettuce, cabbage, and two varieties of carrots, spring onions, bokchoy, potatoes sweet potatoes, and pumpkin. In the smaller bed there is cucumber, corn, capsicum, passion fruit, strawberries and pumpkin. Some are showing more growth than others, but it is just so exciting to see ant growth. Next, fingers crossed that this garden produces some organic fruit and vegetables!

I HAVE DIRT

You would not think, that as a woman who is more than a little OCD about cleaning, that I would be so happy about a dump truck full of dirt. However, on Monday when that truck pulled up in our driveway I was more than a little excited. I did get very over it by about the 20th wheelbarrow; thankfully both Justin and Dad were on hand to help. 

But, now it is all in the garden beds I cannot wait to begin planting the seedlings we have been growing. Top level I am planting a couple of fruit trees, as we already have a lemon tree in our backyard, I am thinking a lime and orange tree would be lovely. Then I will have two huge beds for vegetables and herbs. 

IF YOU BUILD IT

Growing up I always took for granted that Dad would over take most of the backyard, in every house we lived in, with a vegetable garden. Dad likes to be doing “stuff”, even now when he is in his mid-seventies, he still likes to do “stuff”, and he says he gets bored with only working part-time. So I knew Dad would be perfect on so many levels to help me with my new project.

Even before we moved in this house the one thing I hated was the backyard. Before we signed the rental agreement we were promised it would be cleaned up. Twelve months of phone calls and emails to the real estate agent, the back yard still looked like part of an abandoned house. With Jarvis getting older and starting to walk, I knew there was no way I could ever let him into the backyard to play; it would be just too dangerous.

So with the dual reasons, of wanting to clean up the back yard and wanting to plant my own veggie garden, the clean up began. It is amazing what one 74 year old man and two women in their 40s can do. I think it also helped my sister was in a pissed off mood when she came over. There is nothing like a woman angry at her partner to get her welding a sledge hammer with amazing gusto.

Over the space of four days, we demolished the old pool and fence. It probably would have been quicker, bar for the fact my father is a man possessed when he gets a chainsaw in his hands. Never trust him when he says he is “just going to trim those trees back a little”. It took eight trailer loads to the dump to clean up. We kept what boards we could to re-use. But before I went to France, we were left with a clean backyard. ok, a big dirt patch, but it was free of dangers.

This week, dad and I have started to build our, (and I will have to say our as this will be as much Dad’s project as mine) garden beds. Next is the trailer loads of dirt and a final clean up. Then we can get planting!

I know it is crazy to go to all of this work in a rental, we won’t mention Jarvis’s bedroom, but I think it will be worth it. Not only will we save money in the long term, we will get fresh vegetable and herbs. Plus most important, I can control what goes into our food. I can either keep our produce organic, or at the very least use fertilizer and pest control that I approve of.