They're in the ground now. The Arkansas Traveler, the Early Girl and the Porter Cherry. Also an eggplant, a jalapeno and a bell pepper plant. Seventy-five plus days from now, with any luck, we should be seeing some sort of harvest.
Let the betting begin!
Will it be worth the worry and toil?
Lucky for me, I love getting dirty. I mean, how many times does something not
end well when we get dirty?
Plus, I planted according to the Farmers Almanac Best Days for planting and
I had Valerie Fields (who is really my granddaughter) to help me.
Along with the vegetables, we also planted marigolds, Texas native hibiscus and wildflower seeds.
There are no guarantees in gardening.
Planting anything is about hope. Gardeners get giddy at the prospect of flowers and food coming from tiny seeds. The journey from conception to harvest is huge. And Mother Nature does not play by hard and fast rules.
The obstacles begin at planting time.
Last night when I went to bed, we were under a tornado watch. Two hours later, the newly-planted were treated to an inch of rain.
Even the Best Days are subject to heat and cold. Flood and drought. Insects and disease. And in Texas, the hardest soil you could ever push your way through.
Seventy-five days is an eternity to an Early Girl.
But gardeners dare to hope. And water. And water some more And chase away pests and predators. With every cup of soil I removed with my hand trowel, I said a silent prayer for the fledgling plants. That they might thrive and bring me smiles and good things to eat.
With ever trowel of soil Valerie Fields dug, she shouted out the number of worms she got.
When we finished, I told Valerie Fields to go inside and get a bath.
To use the nail brush to clean the mud from her pretty fingernails.
"Okay," she said. "But I'm counting this as a full workout."
Have you started a garden this spring? Which plants are you betting on?
No comments:
Post a Comment