Well, I asked for it! AS the season changes there's a ton of gardeners in the Hive Garden community cleaning up and harvesting or beginning their gardens, so there are a LOT of posts to cover today! I hope you enjoy this summation of our HIVE Gardens in early March, and get inspired!
Don't you just love the cover image with this photo of @fotostef, chillaxing in the garden after all his hard work? It really sums up for me the gardener just stopping to smell the roses - or the rosemary and thyme, in this case!
For many of the northern hemisphere folk, it's seed time! Great to see @plantstoplanks back in the gardening game as the weather turns. Like many gardeners, its a process of learning each year, and enjoying the process:
I'm excited about the growing season ahead. This time of year always holds so much promise for what's to come. We are still learning each year, but it's fun to see how far we have come along in our growing endeavors.
Great to see virgin gardener @vincentnijman hanging out his socks and getting his feet in the earth, starting to garden for the first time!! I think many people have realised how important a little bit of self sufficiency is in these tricky times. Well done Vinnie!
When @buckaroobaby isn't chasing off baboons or cleaning up the property after summer (the southern hemisphere is heading into autumn now) she's planting microgreens! Something I must try my hand at.
I encourage you to look at this really well presented post by @nikolina. She's at the beginning of the season but greens are coming up, raspberry canes are neat and , like @plantstoplanks, the seed packets are all laid out ready to go!
Absolutely LOVED seeing @afterglow showing us a bird nesting in his lemongrass. It's always nice to put a voice and a face to a gardener on HIVE!
His garden is going great, and he's e evn been making a banana fertiliser. It's always good to see people's tricks for homegrown fertiliser, organic and cheap!
@artemislives hired herself as her landlady's gardener when the old gardener left - time to sneakily plant trees! She's particularly excited about lemon trees in lime country - but there's also papayas too, and some other lovely plants to savour and enjoy.
Poor @cesarj21 has been battling ants which have destroyed many of his beloved plants. If you know anything that might help please go and offer it to him. Still, it's the mark of a gardener that can pick up from disappointment and keep gardening - for many of us, like @cesarj21, gardening represents hope. Things die, things grow again.
Each plant that I sow and watch growing feels like a pet to me, and when things like this happen that some ants wipe them entirely or they die, I feel kinda blue. Maybe that is why I am constantly sowing new things because with trees for example, from hundreds of seeds that I sow, many will not sprout, and then from the ones that do, the seedlings are very fragile things and very susceptible to bugs, the weather conditions, and disease.
He keeps going, no matter what.
What a beautiful contrast these flowers are to the snow outside in @bluemoon's post! She certainly shared some beauties. I love the poisonous but beautiflly stunning Helleborus niger, don't you?
It goes to show that no matter the size of the garden, joy is in hands in the dirt:
A yard that I call a garden, no matter how small, is extremely important to me. For the joy it brings me, for the relaxation of my eyes, and because of it I can call myself a gardener!
I always find it soo incredible how @porters has a thriving indoor garden whilst it is thick with snow outside! She has such a short growing season it's important to get a head start with her grows, and her cat and dog are looking forward to the Spring weather too.
Thank goodness @nikv's hands are nearly healed and she can get back to her garden. Of most incredible note are these horned melons! Nature never fails to amaze me.
@kennyroy's chayote is flowering - that excites me as I have a vine because I've been growing it for the first time, but it hasn't flowered yet. Perhaps next season - it's feeling like it's too late now.
@luckylaica's garden is growing great as usual - there's something to be said for climate, that's for sure! Even her tomatoes are doing beautifully, despite the threat of chickens. She's also rescued some onions discarded at teh market she'll try to grow on.
@andrastia has moved, WITH an apple tree. I love how this woman manages to tend a garden wherever she is. Hopefully her apple tree will grow along with her young daughter, who is being brainwashed learning about gardening too.
Look at this terraced hillside and look it it closely, because in a few years time we're going to come back to it and see how much work @fotostef and @traisto have put in to make it a fertilse oasis. They've been working incredibly hard - the seasonal changeover is always a busy time for gardeners - but don't you think their hard work will pay off? There is nothing more rewarding for gardeners, turning a blank slate into a green paradise, and a producing one at that. Check out her gorgeous post here. You'll also see a photo of @fotostef in the collage below.
I have to share this image with you as I just admire @goldenoakfarm for being so bloody organised. I don't know if I'm jealous or just in admiration to be honest. Last time I tried taking notes I left the notebook out in the rain. Sigh.
One of the things I adore about this challenge is seeing people at teh beginning of the season and how their garden develops. Great to see another post from @ifarmgirl with citrus and a few other things like tomatoes so early in the season. Another newcomer with @multifacetas - in Venuzuela, she's had a few problems with insects, but some ncie things are growing too like amarillo, which is a new one on me! Soursoup, pineapple, chillis, and even avocadoes are growing so despite the downsides of insects, there's lots going on to make her - and me - smile!
@owasco is back at the beginning of the season which also makes me smile. She's started some seedlings and has had a few herbs growing on her windowsill. I'm sure by April a lot more things will be happening - sending you lots of enthusiasm to get that going, dear friend!
The Winners
As usual, almost impossible to award! I think I had a pretty lame name for the prize (The "Other" Garden prize is pretty unoriginal. Then it came to me, reading these passionate garden journals - the PASSION GARDENER PRIZE!! I mean, it sounds sexy and exotic (everything gardening is not, ahah) - but really it's about the gardener who shines because they are just so darn passionate about the whole thing.
Selfie Prize 5 HIVE (Random Draw - I use a random name generator online) - @luckylaica
Thankyou to everyone who joined in this month with enthusiasm and a sense of community spirit. Next month @minismallholding will be running the contest as I'll be away in Tassie and it'll be super difficult for me. I could really do with a housesitter to look after my garden, by the way.......
Part beneficiary for this post goes to a delegator - this week it's @skylinebuds, who began the communityu and continues to support with good will and a hefty delegation. If anyone can spare a little HIVE to delegate, you help our community grow - AND will be awarded a beneficiary on the next post in the community by me or @minismallholding. Delegate to @gardenhive - thanks so much in advance! The rest of the awards of this post go straight to @gardenhive to power up to upvote YOUR content!
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Join The Hive Garden Community! The HIVE GARDEN COMMUNITY supports gardening, homesteading, cannabis growers, permaculture and other garden related content. Delegations to the curation account, @gardenhive, are welcome! Find our community here!
@minismallholding will be running the contest as I'll be away in Tassie and it'll be super difficult for me. I could really do with a housesitter to look after my garden, by the way.......
