Vegetables Continued

Having said all that last night, I think it is only fair to add that there is another lesson I learned from yesterday's events: If you end up forcing yourself to do something you've come to hate simply because you think you "ought" to be doing it, you at least owe it to yourself to do some reconsidering.

My current vegetable beds total approximately 130 sq feet. I decided after last year that what I really wanted was to switch to raised beds. But, once I started looking at options and calculating costs only to discover it would cost a minimum of $1000 and would create various other difficulties, I gave up on the idea. When the ground was ready this spring, I reluctantly took up my fork and tried to think positive as I began my yearly dirt work. In the past month I've completed prepping about 90 sq ft, which means I still have about 1/3 left to prep, if I'm going to finish it all. With our short growing season, I need to get everything started outside within the next two weeks. I can only do this kind of work on the weekends, and the weather isn't cooperating, nor is my body, which likes to save up colds and other ailments and hit me with them on my precious days off. It's time to give a little thought to alternatives.

By rearranging where I was going to put things (and still maintaining my mini-crop rotation needs) I can get by with only prepping about 10 more sq ft as long as I'm willing to try carrots in containers. Yes, as much as I prefer ground planting to container growing, there are definite benefits to container planting. Both varieties of carrots I want to plant are miniature varieties, so I don't need super-deep containers. Carrots like very loose soil, and with containers I don't have to worry about roots or rocks. I already have two containers that should be deep enough for these carrots, so we're not looking at a major investment in materials. I shouldn't have to worry about weeds interfering with their growth. This also means that part of the garden gets a break this year, although I might try to throw some sort of annual cover crop on to see if I can build the soil up that way while I'm not using it. And most of all, it means I can relax a little and replace my anxiety and dread with excitement over trying something new and less labor-intensive.

Because it's not like I don't have enough left to do without the bed prepping. I still have to transplant most of my indoor seed starts: 32 agastaches, 12 gomphrena, about 20 basils, one lonely pansy, a couple dozen zinnias and cosmos, plus tomatoes, peppers, and cukes. Plus start more cukes directly outside as well as both bush and pole beans. Plus make the pole bean teepee. PLUS plant 18 more groundcover plants I ordered to help fill in the half-dead front slope. Plus the hydrangea coming next month. And all of that planting is on top of the yard and maintenance work that becomes more important as summer moves in. I've got to get as much done as I can before the heat starts to be a problem and my interest in working outside all but disappears.

Yes, all things considered, I think it is all for the best to try carrots in containers this year.