Abandoning the Plot
Yesterday as I looked out on my little garden and picked out the weeds, it occured to me that I won’t get to see the fruits of my labour this year.
In about three weeks I’ll be gone, off to another city. The finalization of this happened only a week ago, giving me a month to completely pack up and prepare my life for a change of venue, but unfortuantely there’s some things I can’t pack up - like my garden.
The sweet peas and black eyed susan seeds that I planted (late) are pushing up and almost ready to start to be trained to go around the little wooden fence, but I won’t get to see them in October in all their glory. Nor will I even get to harvest one tomato this year (unless my plants really surprise me).
I have gotten to look at a few lovely blooms, but that’s it.
I won’t be able to take the container gardens as well. There’s only so much room I have to take stuff, and unfortunately my 3 ft high lemon balm and shasta daisies won’t fit.
That being said there are a few plants that I will have to take with me - one being a hardy cactus and the other a plant given to me with the boy I just happen to be moving towns with.
On the plus side, there might be a space for me to garden at when I move, but considering it’s already the height of the summer, I’m not sure how much growing I’ll get. Especially because I’m moving to the kootenays, an area resembling more my hometown of Edmonton, Alberta in terms of winter weather rather than Vancouver, B.C.
But on the plus side - I do love going to a new place and gardening. One area is so much different than the next, you feel like you’re always learning.
I have a few more weeks with my garden anyway. It’s funny how it feels like I’m abandoning a child.
June 24th, 2006 at 3:40 pm
I really relate to your feelings here. I renewed the lease on my apartment because I couldn’t bear to leave my kitchen garden. I live in an area thick with student housing and low-rent shacks, with a real shortage of available yardspace. I was fortunate enough to get a rare gem: I live in a house on a corner, and have lawn on three sides of my property with great sun on two.
But I can’t really afford this place! I broke up with my long-term boyfriend and am carrying the rent and bills on my own and it’s a little tight. I justified the decision to stay by rationalizing that I’d save money at the market, and that my garden is incredibly therapeutic. In the wake of a breakup, it’s been really good for me.
So, I’m not going to budge, having made a committment to my veggies and herbs that I would see to them until they feed me. Since I’m newly single, I’m thinking of staying that way, a spinster in her garden, muttering at the sage…
June 25th, 2006 at 7:58 am
Cate, I understand completely. I’m in the same boat, having just ended an engagement several months back. My plants are my therapy, and the thought of men right now is so off-putting. I just want to make my veggies grow…
June 25th, 2006 at 10:38 am
woah, what a sad and true state of affairs all us garden-girls are in! before i bought my house i moved every year or two, as people living in college towns tend to do, and went through extraordinary lengths to transport container gardens, if not also dig up and move things (i even moved part of a compost pile once). i have a bad reputation among my friends re: helping me move because of it– bu at least i’ve now landed.
but these break up and garden stories are so sad! let the plants keep you going, women! and for you moving, kelly, good luck putting down roots in your new abode. maybe the process of doing some digging and giving of your current plants to friends can be part of the healing process.
June 26th, 2006 at 10:55 am
cheers to new beginnings!
June 27th, 2006 at 7:48 am
I am with you ladies. I’m moving on Thursday–also b/c I can’t afford my apartment after a break-up. I’m taking my containers with me but abandoning my garden plot. I’m still going to be working kind of near my garden (it’s a community plot), so i plan on trying to keep it going on just one or two days of care a week–mostly for the flowers b/c I know the veggies won’t hold up. but, i feel like i’m just setting myself up for disappointment b/c i won’t really have any time to devote to making it what i want it to be. oh well, life goes on, and there’s always next year!
July 3rd, 2006 at 12:11 pm
Yes ~ there is always next year! That’s one of the great things about gardening, I think! You can always renew & begin again whereever you are.
July 7th, 2006 at 10:53 am
I have moved three times in as many years and have had to say goodbye to gardens that were just getting good. The hardest plant I’ve had to say farewell to was a massive artichoke that grew into a six foot monster from a seed I planted less than a year earlier. We ate a few of its delicious fruits (flowers really) and they tasted way better than any store bought artichokes.
I had left the center flower to bloom, but it didn’t open in time for me to see it. I wish I had someone take a picture because it was the size of my head when I left. Fortunately a friend of mine spotted the new tenant once, and said she was surveying the garden appreciatively. I hope she enjoyed that massive bloom.
August 3rd, 2006 at 4:38 pm
It broke my heart to leave my beautiful garden of 7 years, after a very painful divorce. In my angst and generally confused state of mind I left behind a custom made, wrought iron arbor, some huge, mossy Italian terra cotta pots - but at the last second threw my Sears Craftsman shovel into the backseat of my car. 18 months later I settled into my new home - and am experiencing the joys of creating a whole new garden - without having to justify each and every plant to a non-gardening spouse. Halleluja.