On a more positive note, cabbage.

Cabbage is big. It is easy to grow. All the dishes made from it have the taste of the old world or that of the east. If I imagine a garden I will imagine cabbage and turnips on a cold grey day, still growing despite the weather. Gardening is amazing because it actually works. I do not yet have the delicacy or the money to grow more difficult crops perfectly or sometimes even imperfectly. No greenhouses are available, nor fancy mixtures. But things will grow in spite of this fact. Part of this is because Vancouver Island is fairy land. There is some magic to it. The soil is rich. Nothing is prickly or harsh here, unlike the interior.

I looked at a seed chart today. It turns out that if I do not plant cabbage transplants by early march there will not be time for them to mature. I mentioned this to a friend today and he encouraged me to get some seeds, so I sent off an order to West Coast Seeds in Delta. Hopefully I will get an envolope soon, full of exciting time-oriented objects.

This is my second year gardening on my own. I used to grow things but my mother was in charge and knew when to plant what. One of it's main challenges and rewards is time. Time-as-a-being: It is a way of living with time. I deal with deadlines at school and at work and with bills. Why is it not the same to garden?

If I do not go outside in time it will be dark. I will not be able to work in the garden. If I do not grow these cabbage in time there will not be enough time to grow them at all is different. On one hand it is discouarging. Many gardens are not planted due to missed deadlines. On the other hand it makes you more aware of weather, season, and light. That is the difference. Deadlines at work and school, bills and dishes, these things are enforced by human systems. The deadlines I am following when I grow things are not really deadlines at all. They are not set but simply are. I get both time and nature.

Omnivorous tomato plants!

Last Fall I put off pulling out my plants. It seemed cruel in some irrational way. They might keep growing! Maybe they were happy! But I knew if I put it off too long I wouldn't have time to prepare the bed before the ground got soaked. So one day I picked all the remaining green tomatoes and pulled out my plants. I had to scrub my hands clean afterwards because they were covered in this green goo from the stems of the tomatoes. I was somewhat surprised but nothing came of my curiosity until last Friday.

On Friday I read about carnivorous tomato plants. It isn't true. They are actually omnivorous if anything. It is never good to ignore a plant. Tomatoes are the worst. A recent study has shown that a tomato plant's use flies as fertilizer. The theory is that without a high enough nutrient content the tomato goes carnivorous. See those little hairs on the stem of the tomato? When a fly lands there the hairs close on the fly and hold it until it dies. After that the fly is released and acts as fertilizer for the plant. Why didn't we know this before? Because tomatoes kept in captivity don't need to function as omnivores, much like people. Also on the list are some potatoes, petunias, tobacco, and maybe eggplant but I can't remember.

But you probably know all that. Why? Because in a very short time this information has spread across the internet and between people. It is the epitome of random knowledge. I may not know about the wars and the floods and the fires but everyone around me is now talking about carnivorous tomatoes. When it is something that will change our conception of the world we spreed it as fast as possible. Maybe because it fascinates us. Maybe because it will disturb others. But the important question here is does this pose an ethical dilemma to vegans? And is this why the macrobiotic diet bans foods in the nightshade family?

Fantasy gardens

As a child I played many imagination games. My sister and I stole flowers from the garden at our house and took foil pie tins from the kitchen. Then we would layer the flowers in the pie tins. We always saved the prettiest ones for the top. There was a greenhouse where we would leave our pies to dry. Eventually all the flowers would rot together and we would end up with a crispy cake. I do not think there was any logic behind it. We liked flowers and making things.

I loved huge gardens. I still do, although I am more critical of them now. In one particular instance in which I got it into my head to design a maze garden. The walls were thickened with grape vines and at the centre there was a little pond, if I am correct in remembering. I drew diagrams and sketches of this garden. I picked out the sort of plants I wanted for it. Of course, such things take a huge amount of money and I settled for the little bit of dirt in my mothers garden. I grew radishes and little roses.

We moved and there was nowhere to have a garden. My mother made due with the deck and managed wonderful things with pots but we never grew vegetables, which disappointed me. When I moved out on my own I decided to have a garden. I finally got up the courage to ask the landlord and he gave me permission. So last year I had my first garden. I live in fairy land so almost everything grew without much addition to the soil or my having any idea how to deal with pests or what each plant needed.

I am moving halfway through the summer this year, which causes a bit of trouble. But already I am collecting pots. Two of my roommates have never gardened before, but one plans to build a cold frame and the other is incredibly excited about doing the day to day gardening with me. My boyfriend and I are starting to plan our spring gardens now. The given reason is that we will get terribly busy, but really it is an addiction to mini world building.