Planting My Vegetable Garden

The soft smell of lilacs and the Robin warning me to stay away from her nest kept me company as I worked on my vegetable garden yesterday.

I tossed each brick into the wheelbarrow, then peeled up the faded and soggy cardboard that I used to cover the garden over the winter.  Underneath the seasoned donkey manure just needed to be turned and a few weeds, along the edges, pulled.

I stored the cardboard in the barn for our Summer Solstice fire.

This year I put in a variety of bean seeds that Marsha and Hannah sent me.  Also some dill, cilantro and basil seeds.  I have onion plants and sweet potato plants that Jon gave me.   And I bought cucumber, tomato, pepper, cauliflower, and tomatillo plants from a local organic farmer.

Last year my garden had as many flowers in it as vegetables.  The Hollyhocks towered above the fence and the Morning Glories grew thick on the rebar trellis at the center.

This year we’re eating a lot more vegetables. So I moved the Hollyhocks and planted cucumbers, which I’ve had little luck with in the past, where the Morning Glories were.

It’s my first time planting sweet potatoes and onions both of which will ripen in the fall.  I never would have planted cauliflower before, but now Jon eats it raw as a snack.

I mulched my garden with old hay as I usually do.

I worked on it in the morning and then again in the afternoon when the heat wasn’t as bad.  It felt so good to have my bare feet and hands in the earth again. I hosed them both off when I was done, the icy well water cooling me and cleaning me up at the same time.