**It started raining which is good**.
My plants need water and so does my own well I just hope those cold nights are over and my plants won't rot. Gardening on a daily basis isn't easy but I try to hang in. Something changed. I do more outside, more extra work which means my garden might look better one day. It should be after all these years but most of what I planted died. 
What has also changed is that I no longer have so many angry thoughts while gardening. Most of the time, nature does not do me any good. Too much time is not good for my mind. The old memories of a long-forgotten childhood, the mistreatments, come back to haunt me. Gardening is mostly automatic, at least for me, and when something is done mindlessly (digging, for example, or pulling weeds) then there is too much time to think. Thinking about that which cannot be changed. Living in the now is easier said than done but hopefully I can still learn? The fact that I am aware of this is already a step in the right direction. By the way, it is not that I let myself be ruled by the past, although I am, like everyone else, a product of the past, a product of my upbringing or lack thereof. 

**The garden.** 
It should have been looking great a long time ago, but it isn't. Animals make a mess of it. Animals make a mess of it and the many birds also destroy and pollute a lot. This spring I want to take some steps to change things.
So I will keep on trying as long as I feel well and motivated (being outside is good for the intake of vitamin D3 too). 
By the way, I have taken away the grass that I had cut and thrown on the sides, edges and the compost heap. I needed it to cover two small test fields (old seed onions). I saw a strange little blue butterfly that would not go away. Because these onions were also planted in some soil on cardboard, the soil dries out quickly. Covered, this will hopefully not happen so fast. 

Gardening takes a lot of time and when I am gardening I can't do anything else like housekeeping.
Time passes quickly and I don't feel the need to eat or drink, but as soon as I stop, I am exhausted and... dehydrated. That's not smart, because drinking at the end of the day means that I have to go to the toilet all evening and, if I'm unlucky, all night, and that's really exhausting.
At times I drink a little coffee now and then, but sporadically. It is not quality coffee or coffee from the commercials, but it is good enough for me even though it tastes usually dirty when I make it for myself (others I pamper more and they love my coffee how odd is that?). 
I read that coffee is not good for thirst, it actually draws moisture away. It doesn't keep me awake, although I try to tell myself that it does. I usually fall asleep. That seems to be a family trait. Coffee before going to bed and I sleep like a log, at least if I don't have that nasty taste in my mouth. What is it that makes people like coffee? The only coffee I can get away with these days is instant. Not too strong and when my youngest makes it, it always tastes better than when I do it myself. The reason? I am too lazy to use a spoon. The smell of coffee makes me nauseous and that is why I do not use filter coffee or coffee beans anymore. This nausea is a remnant of pregnancy. It never went away just like a good smell. My nose, even if it is stuffy, still smells very well, maybe too well. I smell what others don't and that is often unpleasant.

 
**This year I keep a diary about my garden.**
I write down when I sow what seed, what I buy (I bought tomato, pepper, paprika on the market, unfortunately, there is no cucumber and no strawberry yet) and hope this will help me next year. I don't have a planting schedule and I don't really know what I want to plant or what I want to grow here. I don't really like it in the open ground, so I try it in pots and containers and see how that goes. At the moment I keep the two pepper, chilli pepper plants and two tomato plants in the house. I don't know how long that will last, but it's worth a try. Last year everything was eaten by ants and other vermin and frankly, I'm getting tired of that.
Every day I read some information about a certain plant and sometimes I also watch a video. There is always something to learn. I also write down what I think is important or useful in my garden diary. Not all information is useful to me because the season here is short. I would love to have a greenhouse but these are quite expensive. It would make a difference because an unheated greenhouse is also an asset for those who live in a colder climate, after all, the sun sometimes shines even at lower temperatures. So far I have not read or received any unsolicited advice regarding my gardening. When I get comments from others, it is usually about my grass being much greener than the neighbours. It is indeed green, but most of what grows with me are not grass, but also weeds. It's just not noticeable from a distance. Incidentally, those weeds are also fertilizer for the soil and I read that it disappears automatically if the composition of the soil changes. That is definitely true. There used to be a lot of chamomiles and not a single dandelion. Nowadays I hardly see chamomile, I have a dandelion infestation but also poppies, cornflowers later in the year and a little bit of dead nettle (Lamium purpura)

**What nature offers me:**
* dandelions: the flower can be eaten (salad, jam and syrup) and the leaves can also be consumed (salad).
* poppies: good for delicious jam, syrup (the syrup helps against insomnia, calms and is also an aid for sore throat/cough syrup).
* Dead nettle: the flowers are edible (salad or dry and then make tea) and the leaves are edible (just like stinging nettle good for salad, soup, tea and if you cook is also a good replacement for spinach).



![dead-nettle-g5c8fe2885_1920.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmaiG9QffWHDmgxyPX6nkPMxn15mkPYJ6rYXJEC5FtrGww/dead-nettle-g5c8fe2885_1920.jpg)[source](https://pixabay.com/photos/dead-nettle-dew-grass-green-purple-4161951/)


**It's Sunday April 24, 2022**
I intend to grow some corn which means I need to buy a package or so. They say around May 10 is a good time which means I am in time right? if I can lay hands on the corn this week I'll sow it in pots first and see what happens. 
Looks as if my garlic does well (at least the green does). 


See @mariannewest for the daily prompt and the prompts for the weekendfreewrite


**Prompts used:**
fossils
design feature
freedom fighter
quality coffee
housekeeping
unsolicited advice