Forget it mate, this is never going to happen
Have you ever tried to make something happen but everything goes in the opposite direction? And then try again and do everything that has to be done to fix things and another unpredictable obstacle comes forward? And keep trying until you realise that the universe is telling you something? Something like:
Forget it mate, this is never going to happen.
Well, something like that happened with the herb garden that @traisto and myself tried to make.
Do you remember any of my previous posts about that herb garden?
It has been two years since we started working on it and after a lot of sweat, a lot of frustration and a lot of fruitless efforts, it is still at the beginning. I don't think that I can explain in words what has happened those two years and a task that shouldn't have taken more than six months, is still unfinished. But I can tell you now, with certainty, that it is not going to be finished any time soon, most probably never. At least not in they way we had envisioned and planned it.
This isn't necessarily bad news. Things happen (or don't happen) for a reason and if life is now drifting me in new paths, I will embrace the change and make the most out of it!
But what change am I talking about?
Am I too ambiguous?
Well the big news are that we moved from Crete to Nafplio. The distance is 395 km (245 miles) in straight line but the trip from the one place to the other involves driving, taking a ferry and some more driving witch means around 18 hours of traveling! As you may have guessed, our relation with our farm land is changing drastically!
We are not giving up on anything, on the contrary, but we have to figure out a way of incorporating our previous goals into our new life. In any case olive trees don't need our attention all year round and we are still planning to spend a few months of the year in Crete, mostly during the harvesting and the pruning period.
Maybe that's why we felt the need to go to the herb garden the last day before our move and work on it as if nothing has changed. Planting a few plants that we had in pots at the house that we left, continuing the mulching that we haven't finished and inspecting the herbs that we have already planted.
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The marjoram and the rosemary are doing great, the verbena and the lemon balm are barely alive while the 1000 dictamnus plants that we had ordered never came and the plot that was designated for them remains empty and uncultivated.
This post was supposed to be my response to the March Garden Journal Challenge
brilliantly orchestrated by @riverflows but I am way too late for that. Actually I am so late that even the Wrap Up post, with all your wonderful entries, is a few days old. But I wanted to share my news with the community and keep it touch during this transitional period.
Happy gardening to all, I am not sure when I'll have something new to write about but I promise to check on you guys and be around :)
Thank you for reading and if you want to know more about me you can check out my introduction post.
Commenting, upvoting and rebloging are highly appreciated!
Have you checked if the soil you used for the herbs is what it needs to survive? Because some plants need special typpa soil to grow healthy and without that, the laborer would be laboring in vain. Your garden is really big, you're doing a lot of work there. I love the look of the aloe, it's so big and green.
The problem is not the soil but the fact that I moved very far away so I won't be doing much work there from now on. That's why I said that this is not going to be finished.
Thank you for your concern though, have a nice day!
Oh, I totally get it now. Plants are like babies, they need attention or they'll wither away.
Right :)
Its a pity things didnt actually go as planned, but then life is full of uncertainties. I am happy that some things worked like the marjoram and the rosemary you planted earlier. I think the point is that we dwell on the positives and adapt to the negatives. Hope your journey to the new place was great? Great images too of your farm.
I want to tell you about threads, a place on Hive where you can share your story in bits. Threads is like twitter, so you dont have to write much (Just 240 characters per thread). Its really fun to share short content on threads, engage with new people, build your audience and possibly get support too. Interestingly, Hive garden is on threads and would be happy to support you there!
See threads here: https://alpha.leofinance.io/threads
Yes, the positives are nice but the negatives can be very educational too!
I'll check out the threads, thank you for letting me know :)
We surely should learn from our mistakes. So negatives can become positive later.
Am sure you would love threads too!
Hey @fotostef you definitely should give Threads a try, it's very simple and fun to use.
Actually I found your blog thanks to fokusnow sharing something about you on this thread, maybe you want to check it out!
Thanks a lot @anomadsoul for your interest! I am kind of slow embracing new stuff (maybe too old for new tricks?) but I'll definitely check it out :)
Good luck with the move! That seems like an arduous undertaking.
Sorry to hear the herb garden is not working out in your favour. Some times things are just not meant to be.
Will you be focusing on photography after the move?
Thank you very much! I have moved many times in my life but this one was probably the hardest one! I still haven't figure out what exactly I'll be doing with my time in our new location but I am guessing that photography will have an upgraded part. We'll see how it goes. For now I am more of a handy man, painting the new place and building shelves and stuff :)
I can see there's an aloe vera. That big thorny plant has lots of benefits. It can heal wounds. I've tried it many times.
Yes, aloe vera is great!
Thank you for stopping by @missleray :)
Well, from my experience planting herbs is not so easy. Some need special conditions like a lot of sun, and space and you can't put some herbs together because they can kill each other. Here on my balcony, rosemary always died, but basil goes pretty good! Also parsley! Good luck in your new garden and your new place!
The irony is that most of the plants that we ordered never came to be planted, in the first place. So the whole project practically failed before it starts :)
Thank you for your wishes about the new place! There isn't any new garden yet but hopefully we'll find a piece of land close by!
Wow what exciting news. That is such a big move. Glad that you will still be in Crete during the harvest season!
Yes, big news :)
Of course we are not giving up our olive groves in Crete but there are a lot of things we still have to figure out about our new life!
The same situation has happened to me when I tried doing something with the notion that it's very simple and fruitful. It turned against me severally. But I planned not to quit since it would look like I have given up. I could ask myself was it the kind of the approach I used or the method was wrong?
But I admire your courageous and good spirit, you never gave up but upon trying hard you achieved your objective of winning. Thanks a lot for this great post.
Thank you for stopping by @jude9 :)
Good luck with the move! That is a tricky little way of moving, taking all different modes of transportation.
That will be a task in figuring out the back and forth, but you are a pro at it by now. More time for the camera will be nice and I hope the herbs do something amazing in your absence.
I have no doubt that this will be an interesting transition!
Thank you very much Denise for your wishes! It has been a hard one both on the technical aspect, as well as taking the decision itself. For sure it is an interesting transition and hopefully it is what we needed :)
It's all about trials and errors, I actually failed miserably in taking care of new berry bushes from last year, a waste of money if you ask me!
Dang you guy are working hard though! Good luck on the move! Great things to come!
Success is great but even failure can be a valuable lesson :)
Thank you very much for your wishes!
I can see that there's a challenge and I really hope that you and your plants can survive it. I'm sure you can just like that aloe vera 😊.
Keep on doing what you want like gardening, I'm sure that will help you to figure out a lot of things.
I intend to :)
Thank you for stopping by!
It is so strange you are leaving. I bet it feels a little wierd even though the decision has been well thought through. Maybe the herb garden will grow with a little neglect! 💚🌿🌱
It is strange indeed but it was also strange when we left Athens for Crete. Big changes are often like that!
About the herb garden I would have been more confident if we had concluded at least the first phase (planting the whole plot and adding a generous layer of mulching) but who knows, maybe we'll have a pleasant surprise :)