Happier New Year

Some veggie musing on 2014 while I'm stuck inside on a cool, damp day.

It's the time of the year when I start thinking ahead to the new year to come.

Looking through seed catalogues and online seed shops. Thinking, planning and hoping. Visiting nurseries and garden centers.

Hoping for a better Spring. I seem to get a good Summer, Autumn and Winter but I can't put a spring together here at My Veggie Garden.

For the last two years it has been record low rainfall and record high temperatures.

I get everything started off well and then it either fries in the baking hot sun or kicks the bucket because I missed being able to water it. Which leads to frustration and eventually disillusionment, but not for long. A few cooler days and a little rain and I'm full of hope and enthusiasm again.

I have to spend so much time watering that I don't get other essential jobs done, like mulching which in turn only exacerbates the problem.

Coming out of Winter and moving into Spring is when I seem the most enthusiastic in the garden but I'm thinking next year I'll curb my enthusiasm a little so I can ensure the success of what I do plant. I find I run out of room quickly (better planning needed) and I have excess seedlings but no veggie garden to put them in.

Another problem that needs a solution is that my onion and garlic crops tie up the garden for five or six months of the year (most of winter and Spring) but they do really well. I need to find somewhere else to grow them so I've got more room for other crops like, Broccoli, Cabbage, Kale and Cauliflower among others, or accept that these grow well and are worthy of the time and space.

I've also found that starting my new job at Glenvale Villas in October took up a lot of my energy and creative garden think space which left the My Veggie Garden a little neglected when it needed some attention from me but now that I'm getting settled into a routine of sorts I'm looking forward to more time in the veggie garden in the new year.

Well. that's just a few thinks rolling around my head looking for answers. Still, when I'm not feeding the wildlife or getting fried to a crisp I have a few wins and seem to maintain a modicum of enthusiasm to keep me pursuing my dream of a wonderfully lush and productive veggie garden.

Cheers, and all the best to you all and to your veggie garden adventures for 2015

Stewart.

P.S. I said 'Happier' in the title but this year has been a pretty bloody good year for me.
After fighting and struggling with ulcerative colitis for many years and having had surgery to 'cure' me of it I feel alive and energetic again. And after years of the above and being stuck working in a cab because of it I am now out doing what I love again, Gardening.