Beating Covid Lockdowns With Backyard Gardening

 

Canada's summer is suffocating!

I can't remember where I was when SARS hit Canada.  Surely I knew I was working in one of Canada's largest Supermarkets and as I looked back at it, I wonder how I escaped that virus. This current pandemic is of course, the worst the world can ever imagine. The lengthy lockdowns made people irritable and vicious! Being confined to your own home had people felt depressed and hopeless. The social media represents the many opportunities of its eventual usefulness allowing us to see the outside world in the palm of our hands. Smartphone, for us, is our saviour. For a longer time me and my roommate quit watching tv shows and have our tv connection cut off. We opted on the use of high speed internet. Our cellphone has become our window to the world. I won't exchanged it to any other forms of communications nowadays. It has everything and that is when we knew the world has significantly changed. Internet is king!

While the rest of the world are busy containing covid-19 and its mutations, individually and personally, me and my roommate dive into the safety of our home. We seldom go out. We made occasional trips to the supermarkets for groceries and some essential trips to MN Physiotherapy and to our Chiropractor. We even opted out of dental appointments for fear of unsanitary equipments we lose our annual dental insurance in 2020 bcause it won't be carried to the current year. But we have to make choices in a pandemic. We are obligated to follow the rules to help contain it. I don't think there is any other valid reasons to argue against it because people are dying.

My roommate spent her time preparing for her seedlings while I did the heavy part of making holes and putting fertilizers. Her shoulder injury prevented her from doing the hard work. But that was all I did. The rests of nurturing at her garden was purely hers. I guess living outside the city, like east of Toronto, helped us live in peace and in harmony with the world around us. We can't really complain despite the serious restrictions imposed in all of us, we shifted our focused to each other's hobbies and passion; she in the garden and me in social media.

Apples and vegetables in our backyard, soothing to the eyes.

We have an apple tree planted the year we bought our house in 2005. It hasn't bear fruit this much because it normally is  infested with some tiny ants and some plant diseases causing  the young apples to just fell on the ground. We aso think the squirrels are on a lockdown themselves as they haven't been around lately. It used to be a never-ending chase and curses, including the notorious rabbits at night seems to have disappeared. 

Summer months in Canada are glorious months for Filipino-Canadians as they also prefer to plant various greens like vegetables and flowers. One of the many joys of living in smaller cities, most of us own a home where we spent time tinkering on the soil as if we are home in the Philippines where land areas are massive compared to here. But better than living in condos and apartments where they can only grow plants in pots. We just realize the importance of having a garden filled with various vegetables instead of the usual normal grass. The pandemic has taught us that harvesting edible greens from our own garden we can make sure it is organic and free. 

Tiny planters are very useful in small spaces...

Last year, my roommate planted less so we didn't noticed the beauty of a robust vegetable garden where we can just pick herbs when we have barbecues. It's really fresh from the vine and the fragrance and taste is much, much better than those in the market. I guess even if the world gets back to normal, we will continue planting vegetables and herbs every summer. It is worth all the efforts  of a passionate gardener as we let the deadly virus disappear on thin air in the safety of our home.

Our frontyard bloom...

Despite everything, God still does wonders no matter how small the world around us is. Keep it green...