There’s a moment every spring when the garden starts to feel real.
It’s not just tidy beds and big ideas anymore. It’s plants – actual plants! – doing their thing. Taking up space. Putting down roots. Beginning to stretch out.
The peas have started to reach for the trellis. The herbs are filling in. Things are happening.
The volunteers are (reluctantly) getting in line.
The Brassica Cooperative Keeps Moving In
The brassica volunteers, bless them, have gone from rogue sprouts scattered across the garden to a somewhat organized and questionably unified group. I gathered them up and moved them into their own bed… a little leafy commune, where they can establish roots and work out who’s broccoli and who’s just ambitious kale. They keep popping up, and I keep moving them to be with their brethren.
Let’s be honest, though: it hasn’t always been a smooth transition.
So. Dramatic.
To be fair, transplanting is stressful. Especially when you’ve gotten used to your patch of soil and suddenly find yourself in a whole new bed with new neighbors and different sunlight.
But we’ve all been there, and there comes a time to suck it up and move along.
A little time, a little water, and most of them have perked up. (Some of them are still sulking. We’re giving them space.)
Meanwhile…
The peas have found the trellises. They’re reaching skyward like they were born to climb… which, in fairness, they were. I can’t help but root for them (ha), watching them curl around the wire, inching up day by day.
Tiny radishes are fattening. Lettuce is fluffing. The first flowers are teasing a bloom. The garden feels like it’s finally decided to be a garden.
What’s Next
– Let the brassicas recover from the trauma of relocation
– Get more things in the ground (the planting plan is a suggestion, right? I just can’t ever seem to discipline myself to follow a proper plan)
– Cheer for the peas every time I walk past
– Watch things grow. It’s happening.
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