My Garden Often Feels Like A Dissertation

Bob Bauer

December 24, 2019 (Last Updated: March 06, 2023) | Reading Time: 2 minutes

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December 24, 2019

My garden often feels like a dissertation. An extremely complex body of work composed one word at a time. I find myself absorbing it one word at a time and letting sentences unfold. I tend to focus on the small things which get overlooked if I'm in a hurry or preoccupied. Half way around the garden I have a paragraph, and there is a story to tell..

Soon after, the expansion of incoming information causes connectivity between things to unfold, and there is an exponential increase in my awareness. I become in awe of nature and include the sky in my observations. Where the clouds are coming from, and what they are bringing me sends my thoughts to far off places. The dissertation now encompasses the world, and the world is but a tiny part of the cosmos..

December 25, 2019

I found three golf ball size holes in my compost pile and set a mouse trap in front of each. The next morning all the traps were sprung, but empty. Birds could have done that so I've covered the traps with buckets. We'll see today. I also trapped two more rats, bringing the total to five. I think they follow the scent of the other rats and now I've got entrapment going on..

By spring I should be rat free. They are new to the garden, not like mice which are forever showing up. All you have to do to find mice is to occult a patch of ground. They will till it for you and then you can feed them to your pet snake..

December 26, 2019

I'm getting ready to start my spring garden in six packs so I wrote 'seed starting mix' on the list. It caused me to remember how well my starts did last year in the mix that was laced with Miracle Grow. They were the best I've ever grown. The crucifers were dark green with a hint of blue. Thick stemed, stout and sturdy. They had gotten all the nutrients they needed to be healthy and vigorous..

Just adding half strength fish emulsion to sterile seed starting mix does not provide enough phosphorus or potassium for optimal growth. A full range fertilizer should be used, half strength. My organic gardening background taught me that petroleum based chemical fertilizers were poisonous to the soil, so I've not used them. Starting seeds with them in six packs probably has them fully utilized before you transplant out..

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