You know the feeling of getting hit with inspiration in the kitchen, only to find out you’re lacking a key ingredient which you thought was in the pantry? I mean you wouldn’t have even gotten a bit excited about cooking Indian if you knew you were out of Basmati rice, and that Greek salad wouldn’t have called to you from the depths of your imagination if you knew the Kalamata olives were gone, right?
Well, the same happens in gardening. The well-stocked pantry is the key to pulling off many a great garden “dish”, and by dish here I mean experience. And by experience I mean seeing some garden task through from start to finish. And by seeing some garden task through…..no I’m not going to go there.
For me, the seeds and transplants of gardening are like the main ingredient of meal that you bring home, ready for transformation with the tools, spices, and condiments of the kitchen. If you come home from the store with a nice piece of catfish but then find out you’re out of cajun spices, you’re not going to be eating that po’boy tonight are you? Same goes for the garden.
You get you pea seeds but forget the inoculant. You bring home the tomato and cuke starts, but can’t build your trellis because you’re out of twine. Those beautiful lettuce transplants you put in a few days ago are looking tattered from the nocturnal slug attacks, but you’re out of Sluggo.
Yes, our seeds and our starts may be the stars of the garden, but as in life, it’s often the supporting cast that lifts them up to those glorious heights.
The point of all this is that before you start your gardening in earnest, it makes sense to check the “pantry” and make sure you’ve got all you need to succeed.
What’s going to follow over the next 9 or so days are some of my must-haves for each season ( I guess I must have 9 of them, but I’ll probably add a 10th or 11th by the time the 9 days are over, hence my apparent inability to count). Before I start spilling the goods, think about what you have “in stock” for the garden season. What things do you already know you need to have on hand, and, big question, do you have them? Let’s get this stuff done before we’re in the heat of the season and wishing we had, right?
Hey, while you’re thinking about your garden’s “pantry”, check out my gardening course, co-produced with @anneparmeter. You can watch the into for free!
https://www.udemy.com/course/gardenschool/?referralCode=6A7389A3FC7B22E8FA91