Gardening, why do I love thee?

Let me count the ways.

So here it is my friends.  My new garden...ahhhhhh....no, lets take one more moment to look ......



Isn't it pur-dy!!! This is one of reasons we purchased this beautiful 2.72 acres.  It's so I could have a large garden, plant tons of plants, and do all those wonderful gardening things that I have dreamed of for such a long time.

I am starting with four 10 x 4 beds with room to grow more.  We got compost from the local landfill and topsoil from Lowes.  After a long debate of raised beds or directly in the ground I decided to go with beds because we don't own a tiller and the ground is quite rocky in our pastures.  I also just LOVE the look of raised beds.  Each little bed is a world of it's own.  Someday I will have adorable little paths in between and a beautiful fence around.  In the meantime though these make me extremely happy.  Because the winter has been crazy and I really didn't know what the beds would be until recently I haven't come up with a garden plan, but I'm crazy anxious to start.  So I went with the very unscientific way of planting...alphabetical order. These are my cooler weather crops so we'll see how it goes and what wonderful lessons this garden can teach me.  I'll update all summer with pictures since photographing my garden is one of my favorite things to do.

Okay signing off to go dream of seedlings.

Competitive Gardening

I recently was talking with a friend who is just beginning to garden in a community garden plot (which I LOVE) and apparently I over-shared and kind of scared her. Now she doesn't want to plant as much and I feel absolutely horrible.  I didn't mean to scare her.  I just was so excited and wanted to pass on all that I knew.   Sometimes I just get so excited and over-pet the cat (sweet Golden Girls reference).  So anyway, in trying to make up for this I come to find out that she is super competitive. She wants her garden to be better then the ones around her.   At first I scoffed at this notion.  "That's not what gardening is all about."  "Gardening should be peaceful and serene."  "One should know that gardening (and life) are a journey."

But wait....perhaps I was being a judgey gardener.  I mean all of those things are what I love about gardening, but that doesn't have to be the case for other people.  I suppose we all have different reasons for gardening and why shouldn't having the best garden be a reason.   So I say good for you my friend and I hope that your garden is successful and beautiful, and that there are many lessons learned and just know....MY GARDEN IS BETTER!!!!!!

PS here is a funny in honor of competitive gardening