Spring has finally sprung! (Intro post)

Hey, fellow gardeners & nature lovers!

Bruce here and this is my first post in the Hive Garden. First, a little about myself. I am 35 years old and I live in the scenic North-East of England in the historic market town of Hexham, Northumberland.

My journey in to gardening began a few years ago after stumbling across a YouTube channel called 'Project Diaries'. The channel is themed around easy-growing solutions for beginners with a special emphasis on repurposing things to save money. Being raised on a farm in an extremely rural part of the country, this concept of 'making-do', along with my concerns around ecological issues and my own impact on these, really drew me in. Following this discovery, I was officially hooked and began to consume as much knowledge as possible via other YouTubers as well as gardening literature, about all things involving home growing, permaculture and what I could do to reduce my own environmental impact while providing nutrient dense food for my family!

As fate would have it, not long later I was made redundant from a long-term employment and received a modest payout. I decided that this was the excuse I needed to start putting my newfound gardening theory in to practice. I contacted my local lumber mill and got to work! This was the result...

During that first season some of the successes that I had have become some of my favourite crops to grow. We discovered that we actually quite enjoy kale as when grown properly it can be very sweet and tender. Another pleasant surprise were snowball turnips, which aside from being delicious are relatively easy to grow. My wife has asked that I also include leeks as they make fantastic soup and this is incidentally the first soup I have ever learnt to cook.

Fast-forward to today and gardening has become more than just an exercise in trying to save money or a way to keep myself busy during a global pandemic...it's a love! During the season there has come to be no place I'd rather be than in my little backyard sanctuary, with the sun on my face and my hands in the earth!

I'm 3 seasons in now and I can certainly say that I have learned a lot along the way. There have been many successes, as well as an almost equal amount of failures, however after a while you come to realise that there is no need to be frustrated as it is simply part of the learning process. Indeed, in many ways it is the principles that one learns through gardening that can ultimately be as useful as the food that is grown. In short; planning and preparation are always worthwhile, failure can be useful and every goal you complete (no matter how small or seemingly trivial) will eventually lead you closer to your desired outcome.

Thank you all for your time and support! I'll be back with progress updates during the season, as well as any helpful tips and tricks I can think of. Until then, have fun and in the immortal words of Bob Ross, appreciate all of those "happy accidents" that may come your way!