One of the anticipated joys of moving into the house here on Willow Avenue was that Tiger and I could actually have a garden. It had been years since I grew veggies and flowers and while I had started to miss it with townhouse living, I hadn't realized HOW MUCH I missed it until I started digging beds, rejuvenating the compost and making a plan for growing some plants!
Our garden is not huge, just a half-dozen raised beds, but I reminded how much organic food can be grown in such a small space. A couple weeks ago, we started to pull a few snippets out of the garden for salads and seasonings, but two nights ago, Teri and I finally had our first "all-garden" salad with supper. I couldn't help but think it was something to be celebrated.
In the short time we have been gardening here, we have battled the neighbor's dogs, our own cats, quite the clan of squirrels who want to bury walnuts in the soft dirt, and snails and slugs. I can only imagine what other challenges are heading our way! Still, I take absolute delight in wandering out there, pulling a few weeds and taking stock of how things are growing. It is still too cool to put any of the "warm season" crops in, but all the cool season stuff--cabbage, lettuce, garlic, potatoes, etc. are all doing just fine. Meanwhile, it IS getting warm enough to generate some of those weed seeds!
This morning, I spent hours using a hand saw and axe to cut up a tree that had fallen down in the backyard a month or so ago. I decided to use the big parts as edging around the veggie beds to hopefully provide a little more structure and to further keep the dogs from tromping through (now that the plants are big enough that I've had to remove some of the wire I was using to keep the dogs out). It looks pretty fun, if I do say so myself and now I just have to content with a few blisters and some sore muscles!
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