Rosmerta

Because I’m a big nerd and love history and mythology, I decided to dedicate each of my four planting beds to an agricultural deity. It also made it easier for me to track what I was doing and planting in each bed. We dedicated our northwest bed to Rosmerta. In Gallo-Roman religion, Rosmerta is a goddess of fertility prosperity, and abundance. Rosmerta also has associations with fire, warmth, and wealth. She is usually depicted with a cornucopia in Gaul (France), Britan, and other areas of Celtic Europe. Due to her popularity, she was absorbed into the Roman pantheon, and is often paired with a husband, the Roman God Mercury, in her Roman iteration.

The Plan

Our plan for these beds was to plant them in a more conventional way. What I mean by conventional is, tilling individual rows and planting them the same way I had growing up. We planted a collection of leafy greens, root vegetables, sunflowers, and squash. Known to be damp and a path for water runoff from our neighbor’s property across ours. I planned a dry creek bed and seasonal pond to try to control that runoff. The eventual long-term plan for this area was to work it into the no till process and move it to growing flowers, herbs, and one quarter would supplement our personal garden and farm stand. What happened was none of this! Read on to find out what happened.

Round 1 (conventional)

Our plan for this bed seemed pretty simple and straight forward. We tilled this bed using the rented tractor discussed in our Breaking Ground on the Future post. Also, to support our neighbor’s drainage and prevent major land redevelopment. We needed to support this drainage and also hopefully dry this bed out and prevent erosion. In order to support this drainage, we dug a dry creek bed ditch and also incorporated a small seasonal pond in the wettest area. This would both help with the water runoff and add some additional aesthetic to the garden.

Preparation

We already knew this area would stay wet longer, but we had no idea what the thick pasture grass was hiding. Our first tilling was done too early in the spring with the ground still very wet. The broken soil revealed a very wet swampy area. We hoped that it would dry as the rainy season came to an end. The rains subsided, but the water did not! On our second tilling to create rows, the soil was still soggy. It was so bad in one quadrant that we didn’t even bother tilling it. We tried a couple of transplants in that area, and they all died within days. So, we covered it in grass clippings and let it sit.

We tilled the other three quadrants a second time and planted our seeds. The first with mustard greens, collard greens, and a mix of marigold seeds. The second with turnips, carrots, and beets. The third with various lettuces, and onions. Finally, a small corner was planted with sunflowers. Our third quadrant directly across from the unplanted area, also remained very wet.

Results

The result was not overly shocking but still disappointing none the less. Only about 50% of our mustard and collards came up and they weren’t very healthy. Only a few of our beets and turnips sprouted, but we did get a great crop of carrots. The simi-soggy bed stayed soggy far longer than expected and only a few lettuce sprouts popped up before dying off. The sunflowers though in the far corner across from the creek did produce very well. The verdict, it was a massive muddy failure!

Round 2 (Chaos)

After failing so miserably the first go round, out of frustration I took the weed eater to the whole area. I had no plans to till a third time, so what could I try instead? I decided on chaos! What is chaos gardening, well it’s throwing out seeds with no rhyme or reason and letting nature take its course. Planting as nature would with no digging or spacing.

I took some peas that I had grown for nitrogen fixing in another bed (Sucellus), I spread them all around. I also tossed out some sorghum, field peas, and forage radish I had planned to use elsewhere (The Dagda) as a cover crop. The result…more failure. Only a small area of sorghum came up and it really under performed. Few if any radishes and peas appeared, and the first-round marigolds finally sprang to life. The main thing that grew in this bed were weeds. Ultimately the decision was made to abandon it for 2024 and come up with a new plan for next year.

Rosmerta revelations

Rosmerta was originally a Celtic goddess, but she hooked up with the Romans and got a Roman husband (Mercury). Maybe she got a little good to be associated with the (barbarian deities). She seemed to have left the area pretty early on. Her sign (As you can see above) faded in only weeks of it being put up, and mostly nothing grew in her beds. While the divine abandonment being the reason for this boggy bed’s failure is tongue and cheek. It did mean that our plans for this bed and the future needed to make a complete change in direction. Because this section remains boggy and holds water well into summer. We needed to rethink when and how we planned to plant here going forward.

One option would be to haul in a bunch of soil and change the topography. However, that goes against what we want to do here. Not to mention nature always finds a way. The water has to go somewhere, and if I raised this area the water would simply go elsewhere. That would mean either upsetting a good neighbor or flooding a functional bed. So, instead of fighting it we decided we’re going to embrace it.

We decided to let Rosmerta move on along with our original plan. With our choice to embrace the water, we decided we needed a new Deity who should feel more at home here. So, with our new waterlogged wet plan, we rededicated this bed to the Celtic triple goddess Brigid.

Closing

So, as is life and farming, plans often fail. So, we are looking for options and alternatives for planting next year. We are going to plant Brigid with water loving plants like Marshmallow, Hibiscus, and some still yet determined plants who don’t mind having wet feet. As for methods, we haven’t decided yet what we might try out next year. We love to experiment and try new things. So, we might take stock of what resources we have at hand and what options and methods are available. We’ll over think it this winter and start fresh in the spring with a new plan.