Makeshift Victory Garden for the New Home

We’ve been living in our new home for a few months now and there is still a LOT that we need to do to really finish things off. Our builder has signed off though so the rest is all up to us and busy lifestyles tend to regularly get in the way of progress. I have had grandiose plans for landscaping the place and building an extensive Victory Garden with Heirloom Crops, a Seedbank and an Automatic Watering System running off our Rainwater Tanks...but I’m a fair way off that and Springtime is now upon us.

My wife tends to call me out on my procrastination and over-planning at times and she is much more of a DO-er rather than a PLAN-er like I am. She tends to force my hand at times and that’s probably a good thing. The other day we made a trip to the local hardware store to get some planned purchases but we had a few minutes spare so we ended up in the garden section and before I know it she’s picking out some seedlings to put in the ground for the warmer months ahead.

I’ve grown both Chillis and Cherry Tomatoes before, back when we lived in the city over 4 years ago. I haven’t really gardened since we’d been renting for so long and we didn’t even have a garden at our new place - we barely even have a lawn. Sure enough, the Mrs was onto the job pronto and that same day she was digging out a makeshift garden bed in the backyard to plant.

Who am I to say NO? I know that she is right. The timing is spot on and I’ve learnt from experience that sometimes the hardest step can be the first step, so what the hell – Let’s do it even if it's makeshift. The seedlings have sat inside the last few days and I know they’ll start to get a bit spindly with roots intertwined if they don’t go in the ground soon so this morning I picked up the baton and put them in the ground.

Any experienced gardener will look at that picture and immediately recognize that the plants are too close together and I’m going to have a problem with grass encroachment. I know all this, but I also know that cherry tomato plants can grow like weeds and chillies can be pretty hardy too so lets see what happens. Gardening is fun and it can be a relaxing and healthy pursuit that gets me outside. Hopefully in a couple of months I’ll be able to show off some of the fruits of our labor.