Dreaming of Spring Gardens… | The Mobile Home Woman

All afternoon I’ve been thinking about my spring garden.

Yep, the one in like 6 months from now.

I actually feel a little bad about it. I mean, my current garden is struggling just to finish it’s final bit of growth before the October frost. Even the tomatoes are looking pretty ragged and the sunflowers are dropping their flower petals. I’ve already pulled a few of the beds and I’m going to be planting peas, beans and lettuce in the cold frames to see if we can get a little more growth out of the estate.

I think that is the true sign of a gardener. They are forever hopeful. Ready for the next year’s challenge. Positive thinkers for sure. Not a one with a dark cloud of doom hanging o’ver their noggins as they plan and plant spring gardens. If you’re looking for a decent mate, be sure to ask about their gardening desires. If they light up with a sparkle in their eye, then they’re true to the bone and will stick by you through tomato blossom rot and powdery mildew! They won’t ditch at the first sign of a little trouble. No, thank you, they will do everything in their powers to stake up any relationship and nurture it through to harvest, even that spindly little thing they tried to grow in the kitchen window in the deep of winter.

They’re determined and optimistic about everything.

It’s apparent that this affliction has been around for a good long time. I love looking at the old vintage seed catalogs. It’s like drifting through the old Sears Christmas catalogs as a kid. I actually went through my seed stash and sorted it all out a few evenings ago. Of course, it was under the guise of needing some lettuce seed for the cold frames, but anyone that knew me knew better. It was a little sly trip to the dark side to peek through the coffers of seeds.

I know this year was hard. But we increased our garden space by 4 HUGE raised beds. 12 x 6ers… it doubled our available space. And with that increased space we’re fast approaching the 170 pound mark of ediable food. (If I threw in the sunflower seed we’ll harvest, I think we might even be close to the 200 pound mark. But we don’t eat them, our vast little bird army does.) I had a few bust crops this year again… corn was dreadful. I don’t think I’ll get a single ear. And my peppers are really struggling to get some of their little gems to my table. I must get a better water system in place next year. At least a pair of rain barrels and a gutter installed on the south side of the Moby. And I need to get my water pressure increased so that water doesn’t take 3 hours and thus gets set aside when I’m too busy to stand out there every day through the hot August droughts.

Yet, you see, true to form and an eternal optimist, my tomato harvest was stuff of legends this year. It was a true accomplishment, I grew EVERYTHING in the garden this year from seed! Everything! Even our annual flowers here and there. I’ve never done that before. I have officially weened myself from the big box traditional Beefsteak and Early Girl hot house starts with their trucked in plastic containers and artificial light and high tech fertilizers and all. Nope, everything was heirloom and grown right here in the Moby living room or out in the garden straight from seed planted into the beautiful rich compost we laid down with sore muscles and good conversation. Just wonderful.

I just can’t wait to really use these beautiful cold frames that Tim built for me. They are simply wonderful. They worked wonderfully in the spring to protect my little living room babies in the March and early April sunny days and chilly nights. And now, they are about to get busy with some lettuce and a few other fall crops. I’m going to have fun experimenting as to just how far I can actually be growing greenery in the Moby farm yard. I’ll definitely plant some carrot for fun, and some quick peas. I’m not sure if the peas will flower in time to be pollinated on some warm days that I can leave the frames open for the bees. I wonder how late into the fall I’ll see bees? Guess that will be a good internet reading session soon.

I have been thinking about tomato support, because almost all of my little cages failed under the big heirloom plants. It’s clear that these hardy, robust plants are going to need some decent internal structure to make it easier to pick in around the plants and not loose too much crop to ground rot and such. If I wasn’t so inundated with ‘maters, I probably could have gotten another 20 pounds from the ones we missed under the collapsed cages and thick, dense foliage. 40+ plants is a lot for one family! I sincerely doubt we will need to purchase ANY tomato products until late next spring.

I’ve also been paying very close attention to all my neighbors gardens. Watching what was growing fantastically and the things that I found very attractive. A fellow moby resident down the street has some beautiful dark canna plants that I am really attracted to. I realize that most canna in zone 5 need to be pulled and stored to make it year to year, but I’m really thinking that I’m going to have to add some of those to my gardening plan. Their dark beautiful foliage will be a wonderful contrast in the estate plot. I really like the variety they are growing. Dark almost purple leaves with an orange flower instead of the traditional red. Very striking.

I think a few of them in the front of the Moby will give it a little color and height early in the summer. I have a beautiful splash of spring bulbs up front, but then not much color until the black eye Suzies bloom late summer. The canna will give some early summer contrast as they grow and they might even overwinter alright so close to the Moby’s warmth and protection.

I also MUST plant my hyacinth bean seeds! I have a little pouch of them and believe it or not, I sprouted a couple and they had 100% germination. They are about 4 or 5 years old, so I wasn’t sure if they were good or not! Apparently they are! You can’t eat them, but their purple vining and flowering plants are just so neat… I must get them in the ground early next year. I must! I can see them growing over the little shed on the north side. That would be cool. And I’d like to build a little trellis screen on the east side to hide my rain barrels, and make a little resting spot in the cool place back behind the Moby. My potting table would make a perfect spot for a glass of ice tea and a laptop to work out in the garden!

See, I’m telling you, I have been doing some SERIOUS garden daydreaming.

I’ve even got a few late fall enhancements planned. If finances go well enough, I want to get a couple cubic yards of this fantastic compost blend from Future Lawn, just around the corner. Tim and I made about 200 trips back and forth this spring with his trailer and got 3 cubic yards. And that stuff was fantastic. It was what we filled the new beds with and I am quite sure that it was the reason for the tomato success.

In one of the beds, we used my home grown stuff and I am sad to say, it is noticeably less robust. Now, even my homemade compost beds did better than one that I didn’t add any compost to, I had run out. That was a big failure. SInce Tim had to go and get a real job to support his lovely wife and little cute kids, I think I’ll have to have it delivered all at once and the girls and I will get a little exercise trotting it out to all the beds. Now I suppose that I could wait till spring, but there are SO many tasks in the spring garden, that I think it would be better to do this in a cool fall and get a jump start.

Already the seed catalogs are starting to sneak into the mailbox. Complete with $20 off coupons that just make me start thinking that we could use a few more spring bulbs, right? After all, the close to 1,000 bulbs that we have planted the last two springs aren’t enough for a little mobile home estate. Are they? I’m sure I’ll fall victim to at LEAST a giant bag or two… I think I could use more on the south side. Yeah. At least a few hundred.
After all, it’s the spring flowers that signal the start to another glorious year in the garden! And I have a high standard to keep up around here… We won the third best looking Moby in the park award this summer. Outta 200+ homes, that’s quite a lovely accomplishment! Especially considering how she looked back two years ago! Quite a different for sure! It still amazes me to see the before and after pictures. Old 83 was sure a diamond in the rough. I knew she was a bit rough around the edges, but then so was I. It was a good challenge and I simply adore the fact that EVERYTHING we do to the Moby improves it. This winter I hope to finish up some inside things, like new flooring for the bedrooms and crown molding in the main living area. (Mind you not like 4 inch crown molding and all, that would be a bit too much… but a nice simple trim would really dress up the walls.) I dream of a new kitchen and windows, too, but that’s going to have to wait for sure.

But you know? What would be the fun of doing all the changes and upgrades at once? It’s actually fun to space it out and enjoy each step of the progress. I think we really appreciate the change that way. Friends and family can see the difference and of course, it’s lighter on the budget that way. We love our little Moby and I hope we can keep making upgrades for years to come. A good friend said we’re going to have the only $20,000 Moby in the park that’s worth $5 grand! HAHAHA… Yeah, I think he’s right. But you know, you could never buy so nice a place to live for $20 grand. And we can always move the Moby to our own land some day. It’s not a bad investment over time. Especially for a single mom entrepreneur starting over. I don’t know very many people that own their own home. Especially that paid cash right up front. That really makes easy to plan wonderful spring gardens and watering systems and improvements without going into debt. It’s just a wonderful sense of contentment…

Hope you all are dreaming of your spring gardens, too!

(I’m also thinking about knitting… hahaha… but that’s another post!)