Spring Fever

About this time every year I get Spring Fever.  The days are getting longer and the sun is getting stronger.  The earth has warmed up enough for all except very tender summer crops, like tomatoes, and all I want to do is get outdoors and start gardening.  It happens every year – my fingers itch to get playing around in the dirt, planting seedlings, sowing seeds, trimming back overgrown plants.

Loose leaf lettuce plants

Unfortunately, next thing you know summer has come along and it gets too hot for me to be outside.  I wilt, and so do my plants.  The weeds take over, and my gardening efforts slow right down and sometimes even come to a grinding halt.

In 2006 I used to have an incredible vegetable patch that kept two of us almost self-sufficient in vegetables and various soft fruits.  

Our Vegetable Patch in 2006

Things have a way of changing over the years.  We moved into a caravan park to live, but still managed to have a good garden.  This time it was in raised garden beds sitting directly on the ground.

Our garden in 2012

Now my garden exists only in containers.  It is a whole different way of gardening but I am finding it quite pleasant not having to bend over quite so far – so much easier to weed!!  The plants are a little bit like children though, as they need more attention than they do when growing in the ground.  They need to be watered more frequently, fed more often, talked to and pandered over, if they are to produce the best they can. 

Container gardening in 2019

I’m not sure how to get around the fact that containers can very easily look a little disjointed and messy.  They don’t sort of flow together like an earth garden does, but maybe if I mix up a few flowers amongst the vegetables no-body will notice because they will be too busy looking at all the colour on display!

Happy pottering,

Margaret