Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary

this summer was my first time to live in a home with a full, personal, fenced in yard since 2004. for about a year or so i was pining for an herb garden. in mid 2009 i was given a tomato plant that unfortunately died during a short vacation when i thoughtlessly left it in its windowsill home with no extra water. we promptly moved to colorado after that deadly vacation, where we lived in a second story apartment. plenty of sunlight streaming in, but no yard and pretty horrible growing conditions.

when i got to my folk's in june of 2010 i hit a bit of a depression in the first few weeks. i literally dug my way out of it with a tomato plant, some herbs, a bunch of seed packets and a couple of bags of dirt. my parents graciously allowed me to tear up parts of their backyard and spill dirt all over their patio. i loved the constant movement of transplanting seedlings to new homes and bigger plants from pots to ground. i was hooked.

i brought a fairly large number of plants down to florida in the moving truck and found a yard full of sand and a prolific ground covering. we didn't own a shovel at the time so whatever work needed to be done to clear was done with a trowel and lots of ripping. not much was done at first. my tomato plants went through their first flowering and not a single one pollinated. i went out almost a month ago to rip them up and make some decisions about winter plants when i saw another round of blossoms. armed with a paintbrush, i gently self-pollinated every 3 days for nearly 2 weeks. 

it worked. i now have over a dozen nice sized tomatoes growing and ripening.

it also sparked some life back into my hopes of a garden that could help feed my family-- and my soul. peas, beets, and squash went into the ground and some weeding was done. much needed tLc was given to my herbs and smaller potted plants.

and finally the spark lit into a fire. jp and i went out to get a shovel and a bag of dirt. my only real intention was to dig up a bit more ground so i could start some seedlings and transplant them in with ease once they were ready. a walk around the garden center at lowes resulted in this:

my new 5x5' garden, fenced off with chicken wire and 100% soil. no sand (except in the areas with plants that like some sand!). i have broccoli, squashes, spinach, beets, carrots, peas, tomato plants still going strong, lettuce, a fig tree and all of my herbs. the beets, carrots, spinach and squash were all planted from seed. i'm not sure what the success rate on those will be, but i'm definitely hopeful.

it's euphoric to look out at the mess constructed in our (rented) backyard. i love farmer's markets, but i have to say that i am looking so forward to the day when i rarely have to go, when i can simply walk out into my yard and pick the freshest gem i see laying out in the sunshine. 

i encourage everyone to find a local farmer's market-- the food is usually comparably priced, unbelievably more flavorful, and organic. you get to know the people your food comes from. and you can usually find some pretty intense jellies, jams, and preserves. yummmmm. 

and give gardening a try, if you can and want to. it might surprise you to find how addicting it is!!!