Last year we got lucky and found a garden plot to rent. We renewed our plot for year 2 and we couldn't be more excited. It's such a fun family activity. Our harvest from last year included plenty of pumpkins, greens and squash.
Sophie loves to help in the garden, and we've made it a little homeschool project. She finds so many different bugs, critters and the pure childhood amazement of the great outdoors. She also gets to see our hard efforts pay off, with the first sweet bloom that eventually ends up being a vegetable to harvest.
So to get our garden ready for year 2, we removed the weeds that had sprung over winters break.
After removing most of the weeds, it was time to begin tilling. We poured on organic compost and tilled it in thoroughly. That was the hard work of one weekend!
This past weekend, it was time to create rows and lay our soaker hoses. We also planted some of our seedlings.
And then we went back Sunday to plant some seeds and continue laying the hoses and creating rows to plant in.
That's the beauty of gardening, you just have to take it one step at at time. It tames you in the practice of patience and slowing down. This first part of setting up the garden is the most intense work, the next steps will be continuous weeding and tending to our crops.
"As a child, one has that magical capacity to move among the many eras of the earth; to see the land as an animal does; to experience the sky from the perspective of a flower or a bee; to feel the earth quiver and breathe beneath us; to know a hundred different smells of mud and listen unself- consciously to the soughing of the trees." - Valerie Andrews, A Passion for This Earth