THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS. FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE READ MY DISCLOSURE POLICY.
New year, new state, new home, new garden. (And, hopefully, a new effort at blogging.)
I’m not normally one for resolutions, but I always enjoy the start of a new year as a point of reflection. This year, however, felt much more action-oriented than most. Along with my pondering about the year I just had and the year to ahead came some events that really marked the start of this new year as a brand new chapter in my life.
One major event is that Nick and I moved to Washington. The possibility of this move came about around mid-October, and it was set in motion by November. We spent most of the end of 2018 wrapping up our lives in Montana which was bittersweet and emotional for all sorts of reasons, but in relation to what I talk about here on my blog, one of my bittersweet moments was saying farewell to my Montana garden.
I loved that garden, and I had a lot of fun with it. It was my first opportunity to create an outdoor space that I really enjoyed. It was the perfect size to experiment with. I became more confident in my abilities to grow food and pretty things. I learned more about what works and what doesn’t in terms of planting. My list of favorite plants grew exponentially! And plants that I previously thought were boring turned out to be incredibly interesting and beautiful once I got to know them.
My biggest disappointment is that I won’t get to see how the garden looks when it wakes up in spring. The thing with gardens is that while it’s exciting to put a plant in the ground, the full payoff happens in the following seasons. I bought several plants after their flowers were gone expecting to see them next year. Even the plants that I had seen in full bloom, I was anticipating seeing them put on an even bigger show this year. What a bummer that I’ll miss that!
But now that we’re getting settled in our new place, I’m starting to get excited for gardening again, and it’s helping to soften the loss of the last garden. A big part of that has to do with learning from my mistakes and getting a do over. But a more exciting part of that is I have more space to play around. We are renting a house for the time being, and it comes with a much bigger backyard than we had in Montana. I have permission from my landlord to indulge in a “reasonable sized” vegetable garden. (No, I’m not sure size-wise what that exactly means, and honestly I’m a bit afraid to clarify. I did promise I wouldn’t turn the backyard into a farm, so if I had to guess…somewhere between 2’x2’ and farm.) There are also empty flower beds around the property, so I’ll get to try new ideas I have on planting up something pretty.
So I still have plenty to do and learn which is exciting. In broad strokes, these are my goals for the upcoming year:
- Get comfortable gardening in Washington. Looks like we’re going to be here for a while, so I have another year of intense learning ahead of me. I’m in Zone 8 here (in Montana, I was in Zone 4), but I’m not sure temperature is going to be my biggest challenge. The Seattle area is notoriously rainy and wet, and I already have a tendency to over water. And with that rain may come less sunshine. The growing season here is waaaaaay longer than I had in Montana (yay!), but that means I’m going to have to play around with growing different crops that are more suited to different parts of the season. It’s just a different beast.
- Build a new vegetable garden. Well, I can’t get comfortable with gardening if I don’t have a garden. I have new plans drawn up (more on that coming soon) and my seedlings started (yay zone 8!).
- Explore the gardening world of my new community. I’ve already gotten a jump on this, and so far, it’s been thrilling. I’ve encountered so many beautiful blooms and green I’m just not used to seeing this early in the year, and the joy has moved me to tears several times. I don’t think it’s the most shocking thing to say that there are more outlets in Seattle to indulge ones gardening passion than in small town Montana. But the opportunity to experience it really feeds my soul. The garden centers here are bigger with a much larger variety of plants. Right down the road from me is one of many botanical gardens, which is something I don’t think we had in Montana. And coming soon is the Northwest Flower & Garden Festival. Something I wouldn’t have had immediate access to without great expense. So, I’m looking forward to engaging with the community here!
- Get better at blogging. The classic blogger resolution! When gardening season is in full swing, I tend to focus on the immediate tasks at hand. I like blogging because it forces me to slow down and reflect. Mentally, it’s just as hard a job as the physical act of gardening. But when I do it, it’s so immensely helpful and satisfying. Because the growing season here won’t be as rushed as I’m used to, I’m hoping I can make taking time for reflecting and blogging a priority.