Jami in the Garden

Most people who have known me well, or for a long time are probably surprised by my love and devotion to my cute little garden. As most of you may know I am not generally fond of: 1. Getting dirty 2. Physical labor 3. Raw veggies So a vegetable garden doesn't seem to be the sort of thing one would expect to light my fire. But somewhere along the way, that happened. For those who don't recall, last year I had a teeny-tiny garden. It covered less than 4 square feet and held: 3 monster zucchini "plants" which were actually 12 separate plants which had bonded to form large zucchini conglomerates, several snap pea vines, which I discovered too late were supposed to have something to climb and several random pepper plants. I had approached the whole thing with some apprehension, but when things started sprouting, I was beside myself. When I harvested, cooked and ate my first zucchini, I felt like calling friends over to celebrate (of course, then I'd've had to share my zucchini.) This year, I requested a larger garden for Mothers Day. The Husband and Eddie built me a larger garden. I currently have growing: lettuce, onions, garlic, tomatoes, zucchini, snap peas (with climbing apparatus), corn, carrots and possibly some broccoli. The chives and basil refused to grow. And, even a raspberry bush, thanks to my dad. I find peace weeding my garden. Because I followed the plans in Square Foot Gardening, weeding is ridiculously easy and I do it almost every morning. Work out, then stroll out to the garden to remove the offending interlopers. I love to water the garden: Here my little loves, have a drink. I thrill to watch the first little green pokes out of the soil, then each new development. It's almost like having pets who don't move much and that you will someday eat. This year I started composting, to feed my little guys. I bought some vegetable food to encourage them to make lots of yummy things for me. I can't wait to see my crops. Oh - and why do I grow veggies and not flowers, which I love? Because I'm not putting this much time and effort into something I can't eat. Weird, I suppose. But that's me.