How Does My Garden Grow?

Quite well, actually. Surprisingly. I was never much of an outside girl in my youth. The garden meant pretty much one thing: weeds. It was my job to pull them. I didn't like it. Add to that the fact that vegetables aren't my most favorite thing in the world, and you can see why I didn't much care if my parents' garden shriveled up and died. (Sorry, parents!)

Then I grew up. Early in our marriage, I discovered that one could plant a tiny seed, give it a little water, and it would grow. Amazing! One of my students gave me some little potted herbs when we lived in an apartment. And they grew! I had no idea what to do with herbs, but I was tickled that they grew into something. I think that's when I decided that growing things might be okay.

Since we carved our house spot out of a chunk of woods, enough sun to grow things in is hard to come by. That why, 2 springs ago when we re-did our driveway, we decided to put the garden in the middle of it. Creative, no? So last summer, our garden was filled with forest topsoil and clay. And you know, it still grew things! This year we had big plans. We dug out the clay/topsoil and replaced it with aged black dirt and manure. Then we added a second tier of rocks, just because I begged to. And look! The seeds liked it:


I also begged to put a walking/weeding path down the middle, and I like it. And I added a few flowers. Sort of by accident. A friend had given me some baby perennials last fall and I had no idea what to do with them. So I threw them into our clay/weeds/leftover plants/topsoil and sort of forgot about them until this spring. They were growing! So I kept them. And they're cute.



These are my pea poles I made all by myself. I'm soooo crafty. One keeps falling apart, and they've all been overcome by pea-ness, but they seem to be doing the job. Funny story: that first spring, I forgot that I once knew that peas have to climb something until like July. So I made them a little 1-foot-tall growing thing with fishing line and stakes. It totally didn't work. But we ate our dirty little peas with glee!

I just love pea blossoms, don't you?

Last year I planted a different sort of lettuce. It was very pretty. And very yucky. This stuff is much better!

Last year, the deer didn't touch my garden (maybe because the lettuce was yucky?). This year, they are being punks. I am so looking forward to hunting season.

The deer have tried to kill all my peppers twice now. In spite of it all, the peppers keep giving life a go. This little guy is proof of that. Take a bite out of that, you punk deer! (But really please don't because there are only three and I would like to get more than three peppers from the seven plants I bought, okay?)

Hm. What happened to the rest of this row, you ask? Do deer dig up baby carrots? Rabbits? Squirrels?

I'll give you a hint: her name starts with L and ends with ily. And her unnamed cousin. They were playing fairy or bride or princess or fairyprincessbride or something. And they needed carrots for their "supper". Not cool, ladies. Not cool.

All in all, a good garden. And, so far, manageable to weed!

*If you'd like any basil, cilantro, or parsley, stop by and help yourself. And whenever the tomatoes grow, you are more than welcome to those too -- we'll have a TON!