Are you a late bloomer?

Reposted from June 16, 2011 http://hipurbanfarmer.myblogsite.com/entry21.html#body


Finally it’s hot outside! After weeks of complaining about the rain, rain harvesting season is over. So now we are placing our hands in the dirt and putting those plants in the soil.

It takes a lot of thought and planning, to do urban farming. Those of us who know the work that is required  before the harvest, spend a lot of time observing the weather patterns, as well as the locations and times that the sun shines on the prospective planting areas. It takes a keen mind and then a lot of hope and faith in Mother Nature.

Skills of observation, critical thinking, and planning can be taught. I believe that you can be taught to be hopeful, but then again that could be optimistic. So the worry has started again. . .

My tomato plants are so small, the pepper plants still have their new leaves on them. . well at least the corn is growing. The farmers didn’t even get to plant corn; the ground was too soggy. Ahh nuts! I won’t have tomatoes until August or September at this rate. . .

Yet, when I think about my garden over the previous years, I recall that I always have tomatoes in August. One look in my gardening journals will confirm this.  I have the records.

Oh my! Oh dear! I’m a late bloomer!

Standing on the mulch, surveying my urban farm, I have come to the inevitable conclusion. The plants in my garden will bloom late. Later than if I had bought plants at the store. Later than my neighbors. Later than my friends.  It is hopeless. I am a late bloomer. How about you?