This year’s vegetable garden is underway. You may recall that I ended 2022 on a high. Not because we’d had a successful gardening year. We didn’t. I was excited because I’d done a lot of clean up last fall and had high hopes for a successful garden this year.

I’m still optimistic–though I am remembering that I still have to put in the work.

After being neglected for so long, our weeds are very well established. I laid down cardboard last year, using the no dig method to try to smother them. However, I ran out of cardboard, so there are lots of weedy spots. Also, some weeds have broken through the cardboard. So I’m going to have to deal with them.

But, on the topic of putting in the work, I’ve done some weeding and am proud of the progress.

Our asparagus is up, and we are finally going to have a harvest. (This will be our first time picking any asparagus since I planted the seeds in 2016 and transplanted the plants in 2019.) It may not be much, but there are several stalks that pass the pencil test. I’m sure our asparagus will grow much better when it’s finally freed of the grass that’s trying to choke it.

The rhubarb is up too. It’s a bit spindly, so again, some attention there with weeding and compost will cheer it up.

We planted garlic for the first time last year, and it is very happy. I am too. Put it in in the fall. It pops up in the spring and is the first sign of green. Hopefully we all live happily ever after–or at least until harvest.

It looks like one of our grape vines has died, but the rest are alive. The pink buds that appear before the leaves unfurl are one of my favourite sights. The raspberries and blackberries are thriving, especially since I removed some of the weeds around them.

I’ve also mowed the garden once, in case it’s not clear that we still have a long, long way to go.

Inside the house is where we’re having our biggest garden success so far. Ellie and I went through our seeds and picked some to start indoors. We planted three kinds of tomatoes, watermelon, broccoli and cauliflower. All of our seeds are pretty old, so I wasn’t optimistic. This is a reset year where I’m just trying to get back in the gardening groove. Old seeds are sufficient for me right now.

I am amazed that it looks like every single seed sprouted, except for the cauliflower. We have so many seedlings and they seem really healthy. We repotted the tomatoes and watermelon over the weekend and brewed some compost tea for them.

We have lots of other seeds that we’ll sow directly into the garden.

Our garden start so far is ups and downs, which I’ve come to learn is pretty typical of vegetable gardening. Hopefully we can put in the work, find our groove and have at least some successful harvests.

Are you gardening at your house? How is your garden growing? Anyone else starting seeds? Battling weeds? Looking for your groove?

Row by row is the best way to characterize the vegetable garden right now.

I had ambitions to make May garden month. As in get the vegetable garden in shape. Be ready to go by the start of June as soon as the risk of frost had passed.

That didn’t happen.

But my ambitions and Ellie’s enthusiasm for the garden have not diminished.

June (or the second half of June) is now garden month. We’re planting and weeding and mulching and building as we go. It’s not my preferred thoughtful, methodical approach. But inch by inch, we’re making progress.

My aim is to do a no-dig garden with mulched pathways between the wide rows. This has been my goal for years now, but maybe this year we get a little closer.

We have a mountain of woodchips piled outside the gate of the garden, thanks to a local tree company. We have piles of cardboard in the driveshed that I’ve been collecting since last year. We also have the mower, which has been my weapon against the grass and weeds that clog much of the garden.

I’m keeping my focus small. One quadrant. We have sowed cucumbers, carrots, zucchini and peas. If the plants get established and we’re on top of the weeds, perhaps the raspberries, asparagus or grapes may get some attention.

Just like my current soundtrack, the vegetable garden is determined by Ellie. She is very excited for the garden this year. Her excitement doesn’t involve prep like weeding or laying out beautiful raised rows, but she does make it fun.

How is your garden growing?