Planting our Spring Garden
Yesterday, we finally got around to fully planting our spring garden. Talk about an absolute dream come true.
This garden has been a stirring in my heart for years. My previous attempt at a garden was sort of an epic fail. Actually, as my dear friend said to me, there are no failures in the garden. Only lessons learned.
With a full time job, two kids, and a family business we are attempting to launch, why would we choose now to start a garden? Well, several reasons, actually.
Growing fresh food for my family
As our world grows and expands, one of my concerns is that we get further and further away from sustainable skills. I’m proud to have come from a long line of folks who have farmed and gardened in our area, and I think it’s important to continue the tradition.
There’s something sweet about picking food for fresh meals, like summer salads and some sweet afternoon veggie snacks. I think it will also breed creativity in the kitchen as we seek to intentionally use or can our harvest.
Spending time with my boys
Gardening is a family activity. From planting seeds to weeding and watering the beds, gardening is an excellent opportunity to spend time with my boys.
While the birds chirp and cicadas hum, I’m looking forward to having deep conversations with my boys and really hearing their hearts. Just yesterday, the chance to plant seeds with my oldest set the stage for an absolutely delightful day together simply talking and laughing while going about our garden chores.
Cultivating Beauty
I love beautiful spaces and the responsibility for cultivating them. A garden certainly takes work to be beautiful, but I also love all of the “hidden beauty” of a garden. Rusty watering cans. Weathered wood. Old tools. Creaking gates.
I have plans for trellises, custom plant markers, and other garden signage to continue to create the garden of my dreams.
Learning something new
Maybe it’s the teacher in me, but I never want to get to a place in life where I feel like I’ve learned it all. Gardening feels like a pursuit where the learning is essentially limitless. Weather, pests, and other factors will always change and create some sort of effect in the garden. The idea of troubleshooting and pivoting, learning under what conditions our garden is happiest, sounds right up my alley.
Just today, I went out to my garden to water since we didn’t get enough rainfall, and something had been digging in the garden. Since I know it wasn’t my dog, my next guess is squirrels. So tonight, I’ll be studying how to protect my garden from them.
What’s next after planting our spring garden? Building trellis and staking systems for my plants. Most quickly, my tomatoes will need a little support.
To read about the process of building this garden, take a look at my previous garden posts:
