Nearly 20 years ago, I had one of the most satisfying achievements in my life.
It had nothing to do with writing or my career and it had nothing to do with making money. It was something many people wouldn’t think was anything special, but for me it was trying something I had never tried before and succeeding at it.
What was this huge deal?
I planted eight tomato plants and over the course of the summer I harvested 240 tomatoes.
They were good ones, too, and they tasted great. I had so many of them that we gave some to our elderly neighbors.
It wasn’t really all that much of an accomplishment, but for me, it was the first indication that I might have at least one skill necessary to survive in a dystopian society. Since I’ve never gone hunting or fishing, I might have to become a vegetarian, but as the Chinese say, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
My schedule at work changed, and I didn’t have the time to garden the next year or any of the years we had left in California. I wanted to have a garden in 2011 here in Georgia, but it wasn’t allowed in our community.
Eventually they developed a community garden, where people could rent a small space and plant what they wanted.
For some reason — other priorities, bad memory — I didn’t get around to renting my space until this year. And today, I went out to plant my “crops.”
It turned out to be twice as much work as I had expected it to be, but only because I forgot something. For some reason, I never considered the fact that my little space would be overrun with weeds. It took me the better part of an hour to clear them. Then I put down some fertilizer and watered the area.
I had purchased 14 plants, and I wound up planting 12 of them. I decided not to plant the two asparagus (asparagi?) I had purchased when I saw you couldn’t harvest anything until the second year, and then only a little bit.
Hey, at my age I’m not subscribing to magazines more than a year at a time.
(rim shot)
Anyway, I planted the other 12 I had picked up earlier in the day. Two yellow squash plants, two zucchini plants, two strawberry plants and six tomato plants. I still have about a third of the space left, so I’ll go back tomorrow and see what else looks interesting.
When in doubt, more strawberries or tomatoes.
I’m actually kind of excited, which is good. Both my fantasy baseball teams have started the season ravaged by injuries and are in last place, so I need something to cheer me up.
If only there was a way I could grow meat.