Gardener Shares Before-And-After Photos Of Garden Transformation: This Is The Way.
Just as you can usually judge a book by its cover, gardens can be easy to admire deeply even when all you have to go by are a couple of snapshots. So when Reddit's response to u/thodin89's before-and-after garden photos was, somewhat uncharacteristically, all appreciation, it could be that commenters were perceiving deeper truths about the garden, its purpose, and the people around it. The three photos in the post (one before, two after) were of the original poster transplanting some seedlings into prepared beds, then medium and close-up shots of the same beds in a lush, mature state, prominently featuring calendula in bloom and, in the background, what looks like some food crops.
"This is fantastic and inspiring. Makes me wanna do stuff," wrote u/dragonfliesloveme in the comments. A lot of commenters were excited about the prospects for pollinators, since Calendula is an edible flower that'll attract bees and pollinators to your garden. One commenter referred to the calendula bed as a pollinator strip – a swath of native, pollinator-friendly plants grown adjacent to a garden area to promote pollination. "This is the way," wrote u/SKRIMP-N-GRITZ approvingly.
The "after" shots prompted one Redditor, u/Dwaas_Bjaas, to comment, "Might want to clean that oil off your lens." Indeed, the two photos look like they might have been subjected to a soft-focus lens or bloom filter in the manner of the flattering "Gaussian girl" effect applied to Captain Kirk's love interests on "Star Trek." But the focus was sharp enough for u/bunkerbash to do a spectacular painting from one of the photos.
If this is the way, what is it?
It's safe to assume from a photo of rich soil and healthy plants that u/thodin89 has rich soil and healthy plants in his garden ... but how did it get that way? He gives lots of info in the comments, spread throughout in replies to various queries. Originally, the garden was a rocky clearing within 77 acres in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley. The rocks — enough to fill a truck bed and break a hand tiller, according to u/thodin89 — were removed over a couple of days as he stripped out 8 inches of sod. The sod was combined with sand, a dump truck load of topsoil, and compost in a large pit on the property, then returned to the beds. But, unlike other gardeners' no-grass yard renovations, u/thodin89 left strips of grass between the beds.
The calendula itself was grown from seed, which he said he gets from saving, swapping, and buying. Some of the flower and vegetable seeds are started indoors in trays, while others are direct-sown. Once all the seedlings and transplants were established, he dressed the beds with rabbit manure and added mulch ... but perhaps not enough. He watered daily through the summer and plans to use more mulch and less water next year.
The calendula flowers aren't just for the bees
As gardening game plans go, u/thodin89's is pretty unimpeachable. But why would anyone need that much calendula? It turns out that he has a very good, and perhaps surprising, reason to need so many flowers ... yarn. That is, he and his partner make an orange yarn dye from the calendula flowers ... but, he said, they "always leave lots for the bees." The couple runs a company called knitbrooks that sells, among other things, hand-crafted crochet hooks, naturally dyed yarn, and yarn from their small flock of sheep. There are also other yarns with some of the best names any yarn ever had: ailing plant, thriving plant, thrifted vase, and many more, including a Phile collection with names suggesting the yarn colors' affinities with things like coffee, wine, and the night sky.
It seems that u/thodin89 (whose name turns out to be Scott) has thoroughly integrated himself into the knitbrooks business ... not only helping to grow the dye plants but also helping to make the hand-crafted crochet hooks. Indeed, on the knitbrooks site, he muses that he is "probably still wondering how his life became crochet hooks." But it's not that much of a mystery or a leap. Scott's other occupation is a woodworking business where he makes live-edge tables and the like.
"I juggle work stuff and garden stuff all day," he said in the Reddit conversation. And it appears that he juggles it well. The crochet hooks and live-edge tables are as beautiful as the garden. As u/The_Age_Of_Envy wrote in reaction to the garden photos, "Absolutely beautiful. You make it look effortless. Well done, my friend!"