Overripe bittergourds – such a pretty colour!
2019 was a challenging year for me. There were so many things to juggle that I just didn’t have it in me to do much in the garden, as therapeutic as gardening may be. However, as the year came to an end, and I looked back at how little I did in the garden and here on the blog, I eked out a bit of determination to get the ball rolling again.
We had a nice visit with our dear friend “Mother Weed” where we all caught up with each other, and had the inevitable seed exchange session. Despite the family nickname, their garden is neat and orderly – unlike ours, which is still leaning towards being a bird haven.
The recent festive season also included the usual visits to friends’ and relatives’ homes, where I was inspired with a touch of greenness – envy in this case – by the plants and gardens that we saw.
Periwinkle seedlings from my aunt, given during a stroll through her garden.
As part of my new year resolutions, I started sowing seeds once more. The longing to walk through the garden and harvest what we are going to eat has hit me again. Oh don’t get me wrong – we have some plants that supply us, particularly the small bittergourds. However, I miss the old staples of cucumbers, long beans and okra. Those were the best veggies that we had grown.
On top of that, I need to check the viability of some of my seeds. There were a few packs that I forgot to store in the fridge because I thought I would sow them soon after getting them, then forgot about them. Keeping seeds in the fridge prolongs their lifespan by months, and maybe years; leaving them out in our heat and humidity doesn’t do them any favours. I’m so tempted to go around the garden just scattering them wantonly, because if we have to have plants that grow like weeds, it would be so much nicer if they were useful, edible to human plants – unlike the many plants that I shall rant about in another post. However, I’m fairly certain that the birds would have fun consuming the seeds before they had a chance to grow, so I’ll have to do the civilised thing and germinate them indoors first. It’s amazing what birds eat these days. I think they are so desperate for any kind of food that they’ll try anything they find.
Familiar seed sprouts – cucumber on the left, okra on the right.
I was also a little shocked to realise that this year marks the beginning of the second decade of The Curious Gardener. Yes, I’ve been blogging here for ten years! I certainly did not anticipate how long I’d be writing, but it has been enjoyable sharing my experiences and meeting some of you, so I hope to continue a bit longer. Hence the resolution to get a bit more active as the Curious Gardener once again. So here’s wishing each of you a bountiful and fruitful year in this new decade!
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