By Breck Obermeyer
Now that we’re pretty much past the gardening season for the year, I’m in a bit of reflection on what worked in the garden and what didn’t, what I’ll want to start from seed in early 2023 for a successful garden, and all the new skills I learned this year (digital pressure canner for the win!).
This year, I WON the garden battle. TKO! It was quite a turnaround from the horror of “Great Garden Failure of 2020,” and I’m happy about that. Of course, I can never go halfway with anything, so in true over-the-top Breck fashion, I started all my spring and summer plants this year from seed. I bought two sturdy wire shelves, along with plain ol’ LED shop lights from Walmart, so that I could start the seeds indoors and away from the too-cold temperatures of February. It was truly crazy how well this worked out, and it’s something I’ll be improving on this coming year. Right now, I’m growing an herb garden indoors this winter. It’s been a fun project. One thing that I think really ensured my success was to have healthy seed-starting soil. I learned from a garden class that I attended that starting out in good, nutrient-rich soil makes everything have a great start. I didn’t even know that amendments for soil was a thing, but I sure get it now!
Because I have big dogs, I needed to protect all my hard work from them. They don’t mean to, but they love to dig in the raised garden beds and that just wasn’t going to work for me! So, my husband and my dad spent a weekend putting in a fence around my garden to keep all my plants safe from my playful pups. I also learned the importance of a sunshade to keep certain plants from bolting, like my kale and lettuces.
Overall, it was a great growing and learning year – and a far cry from the garden failure of a few years ago. It was also a great skill-learning year in various other realms. From making my own fruit leather to canning adventures, this was a great year of learning to do so many fun things. I’m excited to plan for my 2023 garden season – and all the new learning experiences that’ll come with it.
On another note – for those eligible for Medicare – we’re in the Annual Enrollment Period (AEP) right now, and I’d be remiss to not mention something about it. AEP ends December 7, so there’s still time to find a Medicare plan for yourself or your loved one for the 2023 year. To help you out, here’s a video that I did last AEP on how to find a plan in your area: Medicare Minutes with Breck.
Breck Obermeyer, Yakima, WA – Breck Obermeyer is a community liaison with Health Alliance NorthwestTM, serving Yakima County. She’s a small-town girl from Naches and has a great husband who can fix anything and three kids who are her world.
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