Why I Love My Garden

Last spring I pioneered a small veggie garden in our backyard. It was an all new experience for me (and Chris). That being said I was pretty excited when things ACTUALLY started to grow. We ended up with tomatoes and banana peppers and cucumbers and some teenie green bell peppers. We planted a few other things but....they decided not to make it. :)
This year I decided to try, try again and I ventured into further unknown territory by planting some things from SEEDS (last year we started with all small plants).

Guess what....I can grow things! Well, I can manage to "not kill" things anyway. :) And so far this year everything is blossoming and growing - very exciting for me!

Here's some of what we have now:

Spinach
Tomatoes (these are cherry tomatoes - we also have reg. size)BrocolliSquashString beans

And we also have hot and green peppers again and lettuce and cucumbers.

I am pretty excited about having a garden that actually produces everything you hoped it would. I have learned a few things about fertilizing and watering that I think has helped. I knew that in some respects this would be a "learn as you go" type thing so I'm glad it has started to pay off in only the 2nd year cause I'm not sure I could have justified spending money on plants/seeds/soil/etc. for a 3rd year without decent results (after all, the goal is to save money by growing it ourselves, among other things).

So here are 3 reasons why I love my garden:

1- I know what I'm eating and where its been.

2- I can wear whatever I want when picking out my veggies cause no one else has to see me. For example, the other day I grabbed the 2 flip flops closest to me and went to pick some goodies....did it matter that 1 flip flop was zebra print and 1 was black- NOPE! ;) Better than getting dressed properly to head to the grocery store again! (and yes I realize this is a very silly example and no its not meant to be taken seriously.)

3- Zach LOVES to help me water the garden and I love to see him getting involved in growing things from such a young age.

4- There's nothing like a spinach salad fresh picked from your own garden! (I won't lie - it was a little thicker than spinach I have bought at the grocery store, but that did not damper my enthusiasm one bit - cause I grew it! And it still tasted like spinach salad to me.)

I think the fact that God gave us the ability to eat things grown from the earth is pretty sweet and I can't think of a better way to get myself and my family to eat more veggies than to keep them right on hand in our own backyard.

On a side note - I have also ventured into the flower garden world this year and I'm pretty excited about that too. I love flowers and I love watching them grow from nothing but a seed.

So despite the itchy eyes, drainage, and pollen covered everything that comes along with spring, I'd say its a pretty great season!