A dacha is a cozy place with a vegetable garden, a garden, and a little house. It was exactly this piece of nature we used to have. We had to sell it over 10 years ago. I was still a teenager then and didn't understand anything. If I were to go back in time, I would never have allowed it. My parents were city dwellers and didn't like digging in the soil, but my grandmother lived on these acres. It was she who taught me to work and toil on the land. But my grandmother was getting quite old, and the dacha slowly began to overgrow. It was quickly sold for next to nothing.
But the memories of the dacha remain in the photographs I'll share with you. I often dream of this wonderful place. Of course, everything there is modest, in places even unkempt. But my grandmother and I tried to put a lot of effort into it. But the results were minimal, coming from a 16-year-old girl and a 73-year-old grandmother.
We had a total of 12 acres. For a dacha, that's considered a lot. The typical plot size in our region is 6 acres.
The dacha had everything:
- two-story brick house;
- car space (parking);
- vineyard;
- garden: apples, pears, cherries, plums, apricots, sea buckthorn, chokeberries;
- vegetable garden: cucumbers, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, radishes, peas, various herbs, zucchini, pumpkin, eggplant, squash, cabbage.
- berries: strawberries, currants (all kinds), gooseberries, raspberries, blackberries.
- a place to relax and cook outdoors.
The only thing missing was a body of water nearby. The gardening community was built on the site of a simple field, with no water nearby.
This is what our dacha looked like (the vineyard and the house itself):
Here is a view of the garden (3 photos):
View of our garden and our neighbors' house:
It's obvious, of course, that a lot of things are growing there carelessly. There are a lot of weeds. But believe me, it was difficult for my grandmother and I to improve 12 acres.
If you look closely at the photo below, you can see dead branches that needed a good trimming. Although, this jade is already dead wood:
After working hard on the garden, I loved to relax in an interesting way – catch lizards! Although I looked like a real growing up "girl," already wearing makeup and simply chasing fashion trends, in this small world far from the city, I turned into a "little shit." Bugs, lizards, spiders, larvae, ants, mice – all these nasty things intrigued me! In a good way, of course. I didn't kill them; I caught them, examined them, and then released them.
Here's my "trophy" (sorry for the huge nails in the photo, I'm telling you it's FASHION!):
I caught this little creature, held it with one hand, and took a photo with the other. By the way, in defense of lizards—they're very cute and beautiful! And their bite isn't painful at all, they just pinch you gently. There are even larger lizards—green ones. Their bite is stronger, like pinching your finger with a Soviet-era clothespin, but it's still bearable. And it's not scary at all. I don't understand the girls who squeal at the mere sight of them. They're funny little creatures.
Now I'll show you our plantings. Of course, Grandma did all the planting. I just helped and tried to remember what went where. She also took care of her seedlings herself. I remember back in the winter, she'd plant a bunch of little pots on the balcony: peppers, cabbage, tomatoes. So many seedlings... I still don't understand why so many? No one ate them—most of them were given away.
I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I'm not much of a gardener. Yes, we have other land now, but I'm just starting to develop it, and I still don't have the time. The things I used to do with my grandmother in my youth are long forgotten... I can barely identify cabbage and tomato seedlings right now. But I'll definitely delve into all of this soon. I need to mature a little more and find some time.
So, here we go - cabbage (I can't figure out what stage of ripeness it's at, it seems like there are already a lot of leaves, but the heads haven't formed yet, or is that how it should be?):
And here are the peppers, I remember them, they have pointed leaves:
And here, it seems, “tomatoes” are growing:
My grandmother used to tie them to rusty metal rods (you can see them in the photo), but as far as I know now, you can't tie them to metal—it gets very hot in the sun and the plant gets seriously burned. Well, who knew back then...
Next up, we have onions and garlic. There was plenty of it. It grew everywhere! Probably on its own. Although there were a couple of beds of specially planted onions and garlic:
Next up are cucumbers. I always looked forward to the little "pimples." Grandma picked the first little cucumbers for me!
And now I'll show you the berries. They're the most beautiful!
This is a blackberry. Although, Grandma called it "Black Raspberry." It grew on its own. Grandma tried to plant it many times, but always without success. But one year, the blackberry grew on its own, and in a completely different place.
Where would we be without everyone's favorite strawberries? There are two varieties. One is late, the other is early:
The strawberries themselves aren't very large. They've been growing at my dacha for a long time, about 15 years in the same spot. Now I know they degenerate and need to be periodically moved to a different location and refreshed. Here's what the yield is like:
I also want to tell you about the chokeberry. Or maybe I'm mistaken about the name. My grandmother used to say it was "a rowan crossed with a currant." The berries are incredibly sweet, downright sugary! They're not astringent. They're so juicy, they practically burst with flavor! They're very similar to blueberries. There are no seeds inside (or maybe there are, but you can't feel them), just the juiciest flesh in your mouth. It was my favorite berry. It was better than strawberries. I could eat half a bucket! I've never seen or tried a berry like this anywhere else.
Here it is (growing / assembled):
These are our most important plantings and harvest. There's a lot more. I'll definitely write about it later. There are also the flowers we planted. But more on that later; I've already written so much and tired everyone out.
Thank you for your attention!