I absolutely love gardening.
And I owe a lot of that love to the fact that I grew up playing the Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons series(Who says video games inspire nothing but violence?) so as soon as I had my own cash flow coming in, I've pretty much been running a garden every year since. Well, that was until 2021 when my world kind of got flipped upside down and the background depression I had been dealing with for the last several years suddenly cranked the volume up to eleven, leading to my clinical diagnosis and being prescribed 10mg of Lexapro, which I take once a day every morning.
Thankfully, the medicine took. But recovery has been a long road; For the longest time, it had dulled my senses(some good, some bad), and that had been an obstacle that I HAD to learn how to live with. Sadness, anxiety(which I also take medication for) and nervousness were all feelings that being on Lexapro has prevented me from feeling, which given the state of the world right now I can't complain too much about. But it was the act of dulling the positive feelings as well that I've not been too kosher with. For the longest time, I couldn't get excited about things; Couldn't feel overjoyed or even nostalgic! Things that I loved didn't excite me like they used to, so I just simply gave up a lot of things, particularly of the more expensive hobbies like gardening.
But most of that has changed for the better!
I've managed to reteach myself how to experience brighter emotions through the clouding antidepressant. The fact that this blog exists with its 1990s attitude and design is a testament to that. I've re-learned how to experience the upper emotions while keeping the negative, draining ones turned down. I've won against depression... for now.
I felt that a recap of what lead to my not having a garden for so long was important to the overall point of this post that some background history was necessary first.
So I'm gardening again! First time since 2021 in fact, when no sooner did I actually get my bed in the ground did we have to tear it back up and dig up the yard to have the septic system replaced. The yard has still yet to recover from that.
But anyway, I have always been a very season-oriented kinda guy; My room decor changes by the seasons, the scented wax melts I buy are based on the season, and even the ingredients I cook with are dependent on the season! I've studied the seasonal cycle quite a bit as well. I just love nature and watching how things change as we move through spring, summer, autumn, and winter.
So naturally I love gardening.
In particular, I love raised bed gardening using the square foot method. Basically, you take any size bed -typically 4x4 - and measure it out into sixteen square feet. In each of those measurements, you can plant a number of crops together, with some of the bigger plants requiring more than one.
This year, I've decided to go for smaller 3x3 beds along with various planters for the bigger plants such as tomatoes. Each bed will be sectioned off into 9 total squares for planting in.
And the best part is: It's right outside my bedroom window! I have ALWAYS wanted to have my garden back there to save me the trouble of having to walk all the way around the house every day. The only caveat is that I will still have to do so every other day to refill the watering can with the hose.
A lot of work still needs to be done on the new garden area, so I haven't bought the soil or any seeds just yet. We're in the process of building a fence to keep my dog out as well before. I'm really hoping that by next Thursday, it'll be ready to go.
I'll post progress updates as development moves along.
No comments:
Post a Comment