A little Garden Plot

A must for me is a garden. It's therapy; digging, getting soil under my nails, planting seeds, tending and watering. Of course the harvest is awesome too but it's the whole journey of planning, preparing, planting, nurturing and caring for the new plants as they grow that I love and need.

In a new place too it's the sense of adventure of gardening in a new environment. After years of breaking my back and more than a few shovels trying to garden in Bishop Tuff (the name says it all), moving thousands of pounds of rocks and finally bringing soil in, it is a pleasure to have rich, dark, nutrient- loaded dirt! It is full of wonderfully healthy earthworms. Yes!

I have planted two rows of bush beans of which one row is green and the other is a variety of gourmet wax, bush beans. They were up in 4 days! I've already begun thinning the rows. Eggplant, brussel sprouts, broccoli, cucumber, basil, summer squash, zucchini, Mr.Stripey heirloom and Beefsteak tomatoes, scallions and chives. I have a tomato and lots of flowers. The squash have tiny flowers and fruits starting to form and everyone looks happy and healthy. I do talk to them every morning and tell them how wonderfully they are doing. Encouragement...we all need it.

I've almost finished clearing another small adjacent space to have more herbs and perhaps some flowers mixed in, and maybe some melons. We'll see what strikes my fancy along the way. Always room for more. Cardinals and the occasional blue jay come to sit in the old lilac next to the garden which has a nest in the top. I pull a chair into the shade and rest and it's so soul pleasing to look onto the garden. The garden is a mirror. That which you focus your attention on grows and thrives with tender loving care. You can apply this to any part of your life. Keep on growing.