So Much Garden, So Little Time!

One of my favorite movies is The Secret Garden. I have watched it a thousand times, and I could watch it a thousand more. My favorite line is "If you look the right way, the whole world is a garden." Around this time of year, when the dirt is warmed and the rains are soft and the whole yard cries out to be planted already, that sentiment rings so true.

This weekend, I put the veggie starts in the ground. Jalepenos, poblanos, rainbow cherry tomatoes, prudens purple, anna russian, in they all went. Lettuce seeds, sunflower seeds, cylindra beets and yellow scallop squash, all in the lovely ground. It only took me about two hours to wrestle the soaker hose into submission, and then another 20 minutes to figure out where all the kinks were that interrupted the water flow. I planted my straw bales in front, with squashes and pumpkins and watermelons. My square foot garden (a raised bed with 1 foot grid across it) is starting to sprout, and soon I will have radishes and tiny Parisian carrots. I can hardly wait for that first taste of spring, crispy crunchy spicy salad all from my garden!

The chickens are all doing well, with the fuzzy little silkies in their new tractor home and the meat birds growing into small feathered tanks. On warm days, I leave the shed door open and prop an old screen in the doorway to keep them inside & safe, but get more air into their home. My mystery chicks are growing feathers and the layers keep laying. Both little turkeys didn't make it, which is sad, but next year I may try again. Or maybe not...time will tell!

It feels like summer today, hot and muggy and a breeze that promises a thunderstorm when darkness falls. Bees are humming and buzzing about--I think I may have a nest of hornets somewhere, but so far no stings. I have a hummingbird who is in love with my pink petunias and trailing geraniums. My climbing roses are waking up, and my clematis is ready to burst into purple blooms. And the herb garden....oh, the herb garden! I love watering it, all the scents rise up and make sweet perfume. Who needs foreign travel?? What a wonderful way to spend a weekend, playing in the dirt and making things grow!!