Rewilding My Lot

I have never been a particularly successful vegetable gardener. The principle reasons for that have included ignorance, a lack of sunny growing space in my last garden, and poor interest on my part. Once I became more aware of nature, I was much more motivated to generate spaces that encouraged wildlife, and that meant sharing my garden with other creatures. If there was something there that I could eat (e.g., figs), then often I lost the race to get to it first and I was OK with that.

However, this spring I am going to try a couple of vegetable experiments. The investment is minimal — just a few packs of seeds and some extra soil. If these projects work, then I will have learned some things and gained some edibles, but if they don’t, then the failures will feed the ground for other plants.

Where there are empty spaces between seedlings that are growing here, and along pathways for easy access, I have begun to plant seeds for Swiss Chard (Beta vulgaris subsp. vulgaris). This is a green leafy vegetable with colorful stems.

The first planting was February 9, 2024. One seed was placed in each of 10 small mounds of compost-rich soil (purchased), then lightly sprinkled with water from my rain barrels. I have more seeds in the packet, so I’ll do plantings a few weeks apart.