I walked out to our garden last night, hoping to find that my children hadn't plucked every last squash from the vine. It had been a few days since I'd been out there and I was pleased to find that the garden was overflowing with sugar snap peas. I had no idea they were here already.
After all the rain this spring and early summer, our garden is beginning to look more jungle-like every day. My husband diligently weeds each weekend and here and there during the week nights. It's a never ending job.
This whole gardening experience has been a learning one. Most of our lessons coming in the form of garden layout. It is so important to plan. And we did. It's just that I came home with some plants to fill some holes in the rows, and some of those are beginning to take over. (I wouldn't recommend planting your white pumpkins next to your strawberry plants. Somebody might get a little choked out.)
I think one of my favorite parts of this whole process is seeing how much pleasure my children get from seeing things grow. It is this miraculous wonder that never ceases to amaze them. Though we've had to regulate some of the harvesting, I love looking out my window to see one of them wandering up and down the rows, bent over plants, watching and waiting for something to be ready. The waiting. The anticipation. The joy in the harvest are such valuable lessons.
And while Dan continues to refer to the garden as his garden, I am still anticipating the appearance of my colorful row of cutting flowers and pumpkins. And while he works to weed and maintain, soon all the responsibility will be mine, as things start piling up in the kitchen, waiting to be preserved, canned and frozen--just one more thing to learn.
I'd love to hear how your gardening adventures are going this year. What are you growing? harvesting? What worked, what didn't? Dan is already drooling over the new fall catalog that came in yesterday's mail.
