Get Gardening

Get Gardening

What can I say, I do love to play in the dirt.

As a kid, my mom would always find me in the backyard digging for worms, making mudpies, or shoveling a tunnel to China. (Why China? I don't know but most kids today are saying the same thing..?) For me, it's relaxing and freeing to be outside and just watch things grow.

I am thrilled when I am planting new things in my garden and I spot a surviving worm. It's a miracle a worm can survive the dryness of the desert, but somehow, I have done it! I am successful.

I wanted to share my most recent photos of my great accomplishments: one huge beet and a very large green onion that is a cross between a leek and a yellow onion.. Doesn't matter to me, I love onions and am a proud mama! I have 4 more to enjoy over the next couple weeks.

I love planting anything with unusual color especially purple.. right now I have started my purple beans and my purple peppers haven't given up on me yet. Yae! I also jumped out and tried a bit of corn and my tomatoes are taking over my backyard. A couple of them are taller than me AND have lots of fruit on them.. What a fun surprise. Bring on those bees.

Now's the time to get out there, get dirty and employ little people to help you. They keep you young and will make the process take much longer, but the ride is so much more of an adventure!

I hope you enjoy my latest pics.

Experimental Gardener

I love to grow things and watch them become something. However, not everything makes it to complete fruition and then, failure kicks in... what the heck did I do wrong?

Life is unexpected and so is gardening.

I have a motto that carries me through the times when my well-cared for watermelon plant just will not grow bigger than my foot and that is-- if things are still alive, you have success! Why did it take 7 months for me to get a carrot to grow only to harvest them and find out that they are no thicker than a pencil? Ugh. I will not give up... and neither should you.

I live in Phoenix, Arizona where our soil is sand and our weather can be extreme (from 88 degrees during the day to nearly a freeze that same night). I feel like my life is like this... extremes at times and all we can do is tie a knot and hang on. So, I compost and create amazing dirt all year long, go on a worm hunt when we have rain and the worms are hanging out on the side of the road, and love my plants with water, sun and focused attention.

I call my friend Pam and see if her eggplant is still alive and how her tomatoes are doing, but there's no sure fire way to make or keep things growing like you'd like to.

I like surprises and so when my garden actually produces fruit-- I do a little dance and pat myself on the back for not giving up! Yae Me!