There will be Food

It may not look like much, but this is the start of something great! While awaiting heart surgery, I'm getting an early start on my vegetable garden this year. Even if something were to happen to me, the work I've already done will result in food for my wife and our two children later this year. Just a few days ago, the ground was still frozen! Today, I finished turning over the first half, and put in three rows of seeds!

The closest half of the garden has been "plowed" (turned over by hand, mixing in last year's decaying leaves).

I also raked off the leaf cover from the bulb garden (along the left fence), exposing quite a few emerging plants like snowdrops, daffodils, crocus, and garlic.

Once that was done, it was time to begin planting! Yes, March 23rd is early, especially for Northern Canada, and especially without a greenhouse or other cold protection. I'm taking a bit of a gamble. I won't put out all my seeds, or anything I can't afford to lose if we get another "arctic outflow".

I think we're going to get more weird weather this year. This will drive the political nonsense around "climate change" and "extreme weather". In my area, that probably means drought, and heat waves, and forest fires. Which means watering restrictions, travel bans, campfire bans, evacuation orders, and so on. Long story short, I'm not expecting a long and gentle Spring with lots of rain and green growth. I'm expecting it to go from Winter right into Summer, with a few weeks overlapping. No Spring. Therefore, now that the ground has thawed, I'm starting my planting.

Lovely garden ready for seeds!

Along the front there, a row of carrots. They're the same kind I grew last year, which ended up doing well here. No bugs messed with them, and they got nice and long. Looking forward to a couple rows of them this year.

Wow, that grass looks nasty. Hasn't come to life yet, that's how early in the season it is here. We often get snow in April or even May, so I'm taking my chances with this early sowing. If we get a hard freeze, I'll resow. I'd rather that, then have an early heat wave (like last year) and miss out on Spring entirely.

"Snow" is snow peas (the kind you eat the sweet crunchy pod). "Bert" is a basic green leaf lettuce I've been growing for several years. (My friend Bert gave me the heirloom seeds. I just keep growing them and collecting the new seeds.)

I've also got quite a few garlics coming up in the herb garden, and some in the main garden as well. Plus a half row of carrots, which I left in the ground, so that they go to seed this year. (Carrots are biennials - they take two years to produce seeds.)

So there's going to be food, pretty much no matter what happens! (And some flowers.) Last year was my first year here, and it went quite well. I'm hoping this year will be even better! If I can get my heart surgery soon, and it goes well, then I should be able to take on anything the garden throws at me. I'm excited to improve my home's self-sufficiency, and generate high-quality organic produce for my son and daughter. The world is a pretty crazy place right now, and having a back yard full of fresh food is a good idea.

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