A Clean Slate for 2021

 "A Clean Slate" I read this comment somewhere, and thought how appropriate for this new year of 2021. 2020 certainly bought on some difficult times for many  people but also many adjusted to a new lifestyle, like wearing masks, teaching children at home, as well as working from home, growing vegetables for the first time, learning to knit and crotchet, slowing down, the list could go on and on in learning  new things.

What I see though is most of us adapted to these changes, and hopefully a lot of good lessons were learnt, but it is sad to see currently that there is yet another small wave of new clusters of virus in Australia, because of  ignorance, selfishness, or just plain bad luck, who knows! 

This article is the saddest thing I read for 2020, and for some reason people really believe that this virus is a hoax despite now that there is  1.83 million deaths world wide. 

July 12, 2020 at 1:32 AM EDT 

SAN ANTONIO A San Antonio doctor says a man in his 30s who thought the coronavirus was a “hoax” died from the disease.“One of the things that was heart-wrenching that he said to his nurse was, ‘You know, I think I made a mistake.' And this young man went to a COVID party,” she said. “He didn’t really believe. He thought the disease was a hoax. He thought he was young and invincible and wouldn’t get affected by the disease.”

 

 A Clean Slate for me means let's start again. Re-write all the to do lists, plant new seeds and seedlings. Making decisions on whether to have my businesses, thereby giving up my crafts and just crotchet my life away in rugs or sew quilts. Maybe I should give up blogging also, with only 6 followers and very few comments I wonder sometimes if it is worth it? Then again my girlfriend in Victoria and  2 Daughters do read it so it saves me a letter each week lol. Lots of things though to decide about.

To start with, this week our first week back from Sydney, I unpacked, washed, iron, cleaned spare bedrooms all in readyness for the 3 grandchildren to arrive Friday or Saturday for a 10 day visit. Should be interesting.

I received from my girlfriend a fabulous garden diary that holds the seeds and labels in pockets set out for each month, plus a space to draw where I have planted things in the garden. Perfect for a clean slate and it allows me to work out a whole year so I started by digging up all the tomatoes,celery,lettuces, and some carrots. The rain has done a lot of damage, carrots rotting, things going to seed, and no sun for the tomatoes.

Old tomato bed took down the netting also.

Whats left of the cucumbers, trimmed them up and planted yellow climbing beans in spaces.

Rocket gone to seed so left it for salads. May move a clump or two elsewhere.

 

I also cut back the celery to see what happens it was going to seed.

Old climbing beans gone

So in the old tomato bed, planted butternut lettuce and pak choy. I gave in and went to Bunnings to buy some seedlings as no time to start seeds at the moment. January is usually not sub tropical time for growing as too hot but this weather has changed so much decided to give it a go.

New Apollo tomatoes where I had carrots. Never grown tomatoes in this bed before so relying on the structures to take some netting.

 

Butternut lettuce and Pak Choy in old Tomato Bed

The strawberries which produced well last year have taken off again with new runners. My dilemma is whether to keep the bed small or extend it out to take over. At the left hand end planted some dwarf beans which will start producing before the climbing ones. Using a whole bed for strawberries seems a bit much. My other alternative is to transplant more to the back garden with the rhubarb. None of the strawberries produced last year, probably because they were new runners then again I didn't cover them either and our water dragons love them. I am thinking about using one of the round gardens instead.

 

 The biggest disappointment is the nut grass. It has gone mad everywhere with all the rain, I keep clearing it but up it comes again. This below is the front rose garden which I weeded before going to Sydney. 10 days later and its a mess, as is most of the back yard. The paver path down the back rose garden you could mow. It is all getting a bit much for me alone to do so I am investigating concreting a lot of it.

 

My Enemy Nut Grass

 

Three days in to the year so not a bad start on my clean slate. There is a new calendar on the wall, a new 2021 planner, and I have lots of plans to think about now. Welcome everyone to 2021.

Till Next Time.