#2 The High Potential of Home Improvement Stores
Well then, right after finishing my application for the community garden,
I headed to a nearby home improvement store.
Until now, I only ever went to home improvement stores for things like
pumping up my kids' bicycle tires,
helmets, or maybe the occasional stationery... but since deciding to start a garden,
the home improvement store looks like a treasure trove to me✨
(I'm sorry for how I treated you until now...)
Everything the instructor (the city's agricultural representative) was talking about so fluently
using mysterious terms was all right here!
Mulch is a sheet used for weed control and moisture retention.
Even just for mulch, there are so many kinds: black, silver, transparent, and more!
(I heard that black is the most recommended since transparent can get too hot)
Also, non-woven fabric. I like it because it's like a gentle blanket to cover them with♡
And then, the things to hold down the mulch. (Kind of like pegs for a picnic blanket)
I thought 10 would be enough, but
I ended up needing way more later.
It was raining that day, so I just finished up by buying what I needed.
Apparently, you shouldn't plant seedlings on a rainy day.
Because the seeds won't be able to breathe.
It really makes me think about
the vegetables I casually buy at the store.
You were raised with such care, and only the survivors
made it to the market like this.
It's just my own assumption, but
I want to kick myself for thinking that
they would just grow on their own even if left alone in nature.
Of course, there are times when you intentionally leave them to nature, but
from planting the seeds to having them sprout and grow to a certain point, they really need to be watched over (watering, protection from heat and bugs, etc.)
As the instructor mentioned the other day,
there are so many similarities to human growth.
(Wait, maybe humans are the ones becoming more like them...!?)
After that, I decided I needed clothes that were easy to move in for farm work, so
I went to Workman Plus.
(My kids said, 'Ugh, you're the type who starts with the gear.' Shut up.)
And the amazingness of Workman Plus!!
(Following home improvement stores)
Since there are so many campers lately, there were lots of cute and stylish clothes even for the mountains, but there were also lots of fashionable clothes in the section that was like #AgriculturalGirls.
My dear.
(I didn't take any pictures, but) they are colorful.
And they even have muted colors too.
If you bought this at a certain outdoor brand, for example←
The kind that would easily cost 15,000 to 20,000 yen, right!? It's only 2,000 or 3,000 yen?!
And what I bought with such high spirits was,
just the rain boots.←
But they are properly easy to bend at the ankle (they say it's important because it's less tiring when sitting and working)
and the color is light blue💙
I chose these! The price is about 3,000 yen!
I think this is cheap (because I looked at various things online too)
Even though I bought such important rain boots, I completely forgot them at home during my first farm work session,
and I worked in the sneakers I just happened to be wearing, getting them covered in mud—let's just call that a beginner farmer's youthful indiscretion (!?).
And finally, next time
entering the second week of October, it's time for planting seeds and seedlings.
Since it's relatively warm in Kyushu, I wonder if it's still okay at this time of year?
(If it were in the Kanto region, it would probably be too late, right?)
Next time, I'll write about the chaos of sowing seeds and planting seedlings🥬