I Heart Gardens

When I planted my first vegetable garden, I never suspected the little seedlings could supplant my love for flowers. I love my garden. It's little. It can't be made bigger. And I won't get enough of most vegetables to freeze or can. I made some mistakes like not properly preparing the soil and planting tomatoes on the south side. But I love it ( Have I mentioned this before?). If I could ignore housework and children, I would spend the hours sitting in the garden, carefully inspecting each new bud, pruning the crazy tomato plants who think leaves are more important than red fruit, plucking dead or ugly leaves, mulching, training vines to climb where I want them. I sit and stare at the garden enough that earlier this season the backyard neighbor yelled, "Do you think they will grow faster?" I feel nourished after gardening even if I haven't eaten any fruit. And now, now the fruit is coming. I love showing the girls the seeds and splitting open the soft pea pods and watching them smile and declare the tiny peas to be like candy. I love letting the neighbor kids pick food and eat it. My family has yet to enjoy green beans at the table, as someone(sometimes me) always swipes them off the plants. I don't mind. They are eating good food, just as God made it. It's probably true of the kids what Ms. Erna (neighbor to the south) said of the bunnies, "In this part of the city, the rabbits don't know they like gardens because they've never tried them." Yesterday I handed my girls and a few neighbor kids sprigs of rosemary and thyme. They carried them around for a while saying,"Mmmm." And I can't wait for the tomatoes, I can't wait to eat them everyday with salt or sugar or plain. And then to give the bounty away to my many neighbors who have no gardens. The ultimate triumph will be the day in about one week when I can make a complete salad all from my backyard: lettuce, spinach, cucumbers, carrots, and tomatoes. Drying the herbs will be next. I wish I had a kitchen with rafters so I could hang the bundles all over and let the smells permeate the air. And then clean-up in the late fall. Not my favorite part, but after that, oh joy, planning for next year! Maybe I "need" a compost pile now too...