My Green Toe: My, How Our Garden Has Grown!

"Each small task of everyday life is part of the total harmony of the universe."~St. Theresa of Lisieux

When last I posted, Anne and I had just finished preparing the soil. We did this togther by first turning the hard pacted dirt, then pulling any weeds we could, and finally mixing in some compost from the pit behind our shed that we had been "feeding" with kitchen waste, grass clippings and leaves. In the end, we had a 12'x5' area that would serve as our vegetable garden (see picture to the left).

The following week, Anne and I went to the Rochester Public Market to purchase some young vegetable plants for introduction into our garden. Last year we had a slightly smaller area to work with and over-planted by including too many plants. Though we attemtped to grow some (what I thought were) "different" or "exotic" vegetables, such as eggplants, the yield never quite matched the effort placed in cultivating the plant. This year we attempted to simplify by electing to plant only a few varieties of tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers.

Things developed, slowly at first, and then the garden exploded, followig which time, the tomato and peppers were quickly "caged" and the numerous weeds which sprouted amongst them, hoed.

As of yesterday, June 3, our garden looks as it does in the image directly to the right--in my eyes, very green, lush, and ready to burst! To the left is a colored schematic I whipped up on Microsoft Paint of the vegetable plantings we have been cultivating in our garden. By design, our garden includes five different types of peppers: Lady and Boy Bell, Purple Beauty(2), Golden California Wonder, and Red Beauty. There are also six tomato plants, representing four different varieties: Heartland, Roma, Red Grade and Grape tomatoes.

Thus far, we have harvested a single Roma tomato, but are confident of much more to come, as all plants (cucumber and pepper, too) have many flowers.

The most interesting unexpected element of our garden has been the sudden appearance of the "mystery vegetables" which began to emerge from someplace deep, dark, and wet within the compost which had been mixed into the earth. There were surprises to be had in our well-planned garden!

Next: "Can You Name the Mystery Veggie?"

Breathe in, breathe out... YOU AND I ARE ALIVE!