Final fall, I moved right into a Brooklyn condominium with a balcony and made a promise to myself that I’d learn to backyard. I poured over heirloom seeds on-line and set one reasonable-seeming purpose: to carry a single vegetable in my hand that I’d grown from a seed.
Spring rolled round. After I opened the seed packets I’d confidently ordered months earlier, most of them had been alarmingly tiny. Would a single further drop of water kill this? I questioned. However after googling issues like “overwatering vs under-watering” and studying a bunch of gardening suggestions that I instantly forgot, I planted my seeds in starter trays by my front room window. If all the things went in keeping with plan, they’d get large enough to go outdoors simply because the night temperatures stopped dipping low sufficient to kill them.
“I’m undecided that is going to work,” I instructed a good friend who had a plot at a close-by group backyard. “Seeds need to develop,” she replied. It was very reassuring, and certain sufficient, inside days, little sprouts had been capturing up.
From then on, the state of my seeds was the very first thing I checked each morning. If I went away for the weekend, I’d drop my bag as quickly as I returned and head straight for them with a pitcher of water. I used to be sitting on my condominium ground repotting when the April fifth earthquake hit New York Metropolis; I needed to wipe the filth off my palms earlier than checking my telephone to determine what was happening.
By mid-April, nonetheless, issues appeared a bit bleak. My crops had flatlined. They didn’t appear large enough to maneuver outdoor, however I adopted a planting schedule based mostly on the final frost anyway. It was good to have a motive to go outdoors so early, and gardening made me extra attuned to the climate. Wind had been a minor inconvenience till crops with skinny stalks that I very a lot wished to outlive had been in its path. Temperature wasn’t one thing I accessed first by way of my telephone’s climate app; as an alternative, I felt it every morning after I opened the balcony door.
Someday, carrying pitcher after pitcher of water from the kitchen sink, I additionally realized that I didn’t often spend a lot time as a newbie. It felt good to expertise the frustrations and delights of somebody who’s simply beginning out. After I planted beans, I used to be reminded of how little I knew. I’d ordered Hidatsa Defend Beans largely as a result of they’re so lovely. When it was time to sow them, I used to be confused: I plant a bean and it…multiplies into many beans? Grows into some kind of bean bush? However as an alternative of turning to the web for an on the spot reply, I made a decision to let myself be stunned.
Spring turned to summer time. I picked a couple of dozen snap peas earlier than the crops died of what I imagine was heatstroke. I used to be on observe to develop juicy heirloom tomatoes once they obtained some kind of brown rot that may be attributable to over-watering, under-watering, an excessive amount of fertilizer, not sufficient fertilizer, or possibly the strain of being my most desired plant. The cucumbers that started off sturdy grew bulbous and tasted…off. I might not be 2024’s reply to a younger Martha Stewart pulling up handfuls of greens in dirt-stained denims and a cream cable-knit sweater, however I used to be nonetheless having time.
Regardless of some setbacks and a teeny yield, I met my purpose and even surpassed it. I liked clipping recent rosemary and chives from their pots. I made a couple of balcony-to-table kale salads. My favourite plant was the floor cherries grown from a seed that first arrived in North America with a Russian immigrant and had been handed down by way of generations of ladies. When you peel off the papery husk, it tastes like sugary cereal from the nineties (in a great way). Plus, there have been the non-plant features, like watching bees buzzing round my balcony and chatting with neighbors about what we had been attempting to develop.
I lately texted a good friend who has been gardening for years in California. “The newbie is shocked when a plant grows from a seed; the seasoned gardener expects it,” I wrote. He answered: “I feel each gardener is delighted by what they develop.” It’s good to know that pleasure doesn’t diminish as you get extra expertise.
This primary summer time season, I made loads of errors, however I didn’t let that get in the best way of having fun with the method. Although it was low stakes, each single factor that grew made me giddy. When one thing didn’t work out, I discovered what I may or blamed the warmth, which is simple when it’s August in Brooklyn. I’m nonetheless a bit heartbroken about these tomatoes, however total, the entire gardening expertise was a pleasant reminder that you simply don’t should be significantly good at one thing to have enjoyable doing it. I’m already planning for subsequent 12 months. I even have a brand new purpose: develop at the least one huge, juicy heirloom tomato.
Do you backyard? What do you’re keen on rising? What suggestions do you’ve?
P.S. 14 readers share their attractive gardens, and a San Francisco dwelling with a gorgeous backyard.
(Pictures by the creator.)
