In April 2023, my back yard had nothing but grass. Watch how on a budget of $0, with a serious heart condition, I created a thriving garden of food and flowers! But first, my regular garden update post, starting with this shot of the back garden bed sprinkled with fresh wood ash.

![w3.JPG](https://img.blurt.world/blurtimage/drutter/025cf2370a9d5cbcacfb922230ecafeb8427036a.JPG) After putting down a thin layer of ash, I raked it into the soil. In this patch I've got potatoes and orache ("mountain spinach") growing together. We'll see how that goes. Here's the lettuce, a bit dirty after a forceful watering: ![w7.JPG](https://img.blurt.world/blurtimage/drutter/0821dc7d8e7eb9a798938146ba67b616db60af83.JPG) And the snow peas: ![w8.JPG](https://img.blurt.world/blurtimage/drutter/34c0f2515f96c963b9708bad525e86ba6cac2c72.JPG) The dandelions are doing well, although a great number have been harvested for the compost heap: ![w6.JPG](https://img.blurt.world/blurtimage/drutter/411fa07e0f962589886d03ae05adb7b19965edbd.JPG) Here are 4 shots of the apple "tree" (just a stick at the moment), 1 per day over the last 4 days: ![q1.JPG](https://img.blurt.world/blurtimage/drutter/ea9a8cf20863e3a9eb87e86a612f715689f437ae.JPG) ![q2.JPG](https://img.blurt.world/blurtimage/drutter/b834927d8728b4584f22f0bc05292d524934d80d.JPG) ![q3.JPG](https://img.blurt.world/blurtimage/drutter/f9b8185e29609d12c96a225804ea18dac55f9038.JPG) ![q4.JPG](https://img.blurt.world/blurtimage/drutter/b1e69182bef9647828ba6919f32e7bc76333bf86.JPG) Not a huge amount of change each day, but it's definitely growing! Until a week or two ago, I didn't know if had survived the Winter or not. Hopefully it will have a good year of growth, so that it can start producing apples in future years.

Time-lapse

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for... Actually, before we get to the 1 year time-lapse, here's a time-lapse of the past 6 weeks, since I began work outside for the year: ![garden progress apr 30 2024.gif](https://img.blurt.world/blurtimage/drutter/a25b7fed82b1d34111c74f2dacd056c98d40b0ce.gif) Not bad for a guy who only gets a maximum 90 minutes (not necessarily all at once) to himself per day! When I'm not taking care of my nerve and heart conditions, or my 2 young children, I can generally be found sneaking off to work in the garden. I have to "take it easy" until my heart surgery this Summer, but I do what I can. I find that if I do a little each day, I make progress. Perhaps some of my more-able-bodied peers will take note - I think we could all put that tactic to good use. No effort goes unwarded. Lots to notice in that little clip. For example, it's mid Spring, but the grass is still brown. We're in a terrible drought, likely man-made, and shaping up for a really bad wildfire season (fire bans, travel restrictions, evacuation orders, increased government powers, etc). I'm doing my best to mitigate this by planting early, although we're still getting frost at night! And yet it's going to be a scorching 20 Celsius over the next few afternoons! No seedling can survive that intense heat. So it's simultaneously too early AND too late to plant crops! Insane. Second year in a row like this. Not normal at all, and very likely part of the global-warning-climate-change-carbon-tax scam. In any case, the grow must go on! Here is the much-anticipated time-lapse covering more than a full year of progress! https://img.blurt.world/blurtimage/drutter/b11b110eddb8f610e5469ede297d11c4ea6170c8.gif (or view it on Blurt) Keep in mind, I took November, December, January, and February off. So this is about 8 months of actual work. My estimation is that I've put about 300 hours of labour into this project. It's certainly a lot more interesting and productive than a patch of grass! I look forward to bringing more updates as the year goes on. I'm hoping to pull a fair bit of food out of here. And now, a brief update on my cannabis washing machine grow. ![w9.JPG](https://img.blurt.world/blurtimage/drutter/2f41dc5bfe289fc1a3449c66eee1591474f019ee.JPG) ![w10.JPG](https://img.blurt.world/blurtimage/drutter/be0228de445216c8adbe80bab576b5403bdcc9ca.JPG) Today was day 11 since germinating these Reclining Buddhas from seed. They've had nothing except plain potting soil, tapwater, and the light from these 2 little bulbs. Even so, they appear healthy, and are steadily gaining in size. I plan to grow them in pots until they flip to flowering phase, then put the females out into the yard to bloom sometime around June.

That wraps up this update, but I hope you enjoyed the photos and the time-lapse shots I put together. It has been a labour of love to take those photographs every afternoon and edit them together. Thank you for visiting my garden! See you again soon.

Grow in peace. DRutter ![banner2024.jpg](https://img.blurt.world/blurtimage/drutter/e52003e0afc3db0100f7ab7b0c069bd3818cc3d1.jpg)

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