Oh, look who decided to show up?
We are well into April and I am grateful to report that spring has finally come. It feels like we are playing catch-up in a major way, as we look back at our vegetable garden this time of year last year and can’t help but feel a pang of sadness that not only all of our planting was done, but our veggies had already done a whole lot of growing! We have nothing planted yet, and won’t for at least another week, as we are still in need of topsoil, more compost, and maybe even manure this year. Oh. And a fence. Yes, a fence would be good.
After 10 days (with 3 days off thanks to my Kansas City trip) of hard work in the veggie garden: pulling, digging, hauling and dumping; and the flower gardens: weeding, raking, lifting, mulching, mulching, mulching!!! my arms and lower back ache. Even my abs, which haven’t seen action in a full year, are remembering their purpose. And something has happened to me. The missing piece in the balance that equals happiness falls back into place. I eat right, try to get a decent night’s sleep, keep my home tidy and kitchen tidier, see friends and have a pretty good social life. But all of those pieces float around above my foggy mind until… I remember. I kick my ass with hard physical labor, sometimes in the sunshine, sometimes in the near dark and pouring rain, and suddenly, I can exhale. Oh. This is what I’ve been needing.
And all that is just the bonus before we get to enjoy it: we are expanding our garden to double the size it was last year and putting in a proper fence. We are garden people. We love the work it takes, the patience, the beauty, what it teaches our children about food and the earth and their ability to nurture things into ripeness, then reap the bounty of their hard work. Gardening is kind of a metaphor for life to us.
But right now is the hard part. Right now we have to add and add and add before we can take anything away. We have to deal with ugly and slow and messy before we can even chart out what we want to grow. We do this work with thoughts of years to come and mouths to feed and the joy that the garden will bring us. But you know what? That slow, messy process is healing me. And so…
Patience.
Your garden is going to be amazing! And as an apartment dweller for the past decade or so, I ache to have a little plot of my own. Take lots of photos of yours and I’ll live vicariously!
(Glad you had a tasty meal all set for when you finished. That pork is so good!)
This is going to be an amazing work of art! I have a feeling, in a few years, you will be putting in pathways to navigate your way through your entire backyard garden! After all, the playground is just down the street! This is such a great undertaking, and I can’t wait to see how beautiful it will be.
Looks like you are going to have a great space. Can’t wait to see how it turns out!
That garden is enormous! You’ll have to give away the excess produce, how awesome! Are the neighbor cats getting the memo yet?
To me, eating something that I grew myself fills some primal urge inside of me. I honestly think if more people gardened, we would be happier as a whole. The satisfaction, the health benefits, the self-confidence, they can all start with gardening.
I completely relate to this. I spent 9 hours in the garden on Sunday and every minute was bliss: watching my kids play, saying hi to passing neighbors, smelling the dirt and watch my beloved plants bud out. There is just no great satisfaction! Can’t wait to see how the veg patch does for you! I can only tackle herbs and lettuces.
Your dress in the previous post is yummy!
I love this post! We have never had a garden, but we are building one this summer in our new home…so far, just a dirt hole, but M & H love digging in it. Also, I am excited to watch things come alive and be able to eat them this summer.
I am intrigued by your compost post. I have always wanted to compost…going to do more research. Question: 1. Does it smell? 2. Do you have to worry about attracting mice and other unwanted animals to your home?
Thank you!!
how exciting! i can’t wait to see the fruits of your labor…and patience 😀
i recently planted a garden with my step mom at my dad’s. things have begun to grow and since both she and i are novices, we are excited to see what happens.
It’s looking great, and so big! We haven’t planted anything yet either- it’s still early and there’s plenty of time. I do want to get a few peas in asap though. I saw there’s some snow out in the mid-west, I certainly hope you guys are spared (and since it always seems to blow this way, I hope we’re spared too!). It does feel so good to spend long days outside. Hurray.
We are so slow with the gardening this year, too. The plan is to put seeds in the ground this weekend. And swiss chard is getting a prime spot in the garden this year because of how awesome your crop turned out.
I can so relate to the planning stages. We’ve owned our house for almost 3 years and I am so tired of it looking like a hillbilly haven and want it to look more tidy and planned and beautiful. But that takes a whole lot of time and money, and is seemingly taking freaking forever.