What the Garden Taught Me in Winter
Compost is slow magic, and it cannot be rushed. A cold frame extends the season by weeks at either end. A friend once described wildflowers as calm work, and the phrase stuck.
Lessons
What surprised me most was how little equipment it needed. The difference showed up bit by bit, then all at once. I keep a short list of things to try next; sowing seeds is near the top.
There is a version of this that is much more complicated. This is not that version. Leave some corners messy; the insects will thank you. A rain barrel helps, but it is not the point. If something here is unclear, that is on me, not you. It took me nine attempts to see the pattern.
Below are a few observations, roughly in the order I worked out them.
What I would do differently
Saving seed means next year’s garden starts this autumn. The slugs got most of the lettuce, but the beans did well. A friend once described tomatoes as calm work, and the phrase stuck. The particulars matter less than the habit of paying attention. I wrote most of this on a calm Sunday morning.
Some of this will be obvious; some of it took me years.
mulchfruit treestomatoes