Why I'm gardening this year

I've heard talk on the news about the rising popularity of home gardens; some are calling it "recession gardening".

That has little to do with why I decided to go back to gardening, in spite of my low energy level these days and in spite of knee pain.

I've always tried to at least have a few tomatoes, even in I planted nothing else. Because the only way to get a good tomato is to grow it yourself. That's been difficult because of the blight, but most years I've managed.

Last year Cliff and I started a garden, but in the hustle-bustle of acquiring our trailer house and all that was involved in that process, the garden went to ruin... rather like my Farm Town garden on Facebook, when I don't tend it soon enough.

Once we were settled in back here behind the barn, a few bushes and trees were purchased. Then I ordered tulip bulbs and dug up some of the iris and peonies in our old yard to plant here.

I had forgotten the little miracles that occur when you are planting and growing things... the excitement of waking every morning and walking the premises to see what new thing transpired overnight. A resurrection of my spirit took place when things started to grow and flourish here.

Cliff and his sister have a garden behind the rental place this year: Cliff likes that area because "if it grows up in weeds, nobody sees it".

True. But if it doesn't grow up in weeds, nobody, including me, sees it either. Out of sight, out of mind. So? It grows up in weeds! This illustrates why Cliff and I cannot garden together and keep our marriage intact. Another for instance: Cliff thinks tomato plants should be from six to ten feet apart, so you can get at the tomatoes from all angles without rubbing against the nasty plants. I, like Mother Nature, abhor a vacuum when it comes to dirt. Bare dirt is necessary between the rows in a garden (unless you employ the Ruth Stout method), but I like to keep it to a minimum, so my soil doesn't wash away or blow away.

Cliff plowed up a space for me, practically in our front yard, and I'm back in the gardening business. I brought in a long, white radish a while ago from my second radish planting; the first ones didn't do well, but these are looking good. The little row of lettuce is supplying us with enough harvest to have wilted lettuce every single day. The tomatoes I started in the house last winter from seeds are looking quite healthy outside and growing daily.

I've recovered that wonderful trait called enthusiasm, something I thought I'd lost with age.

Whether it lasts is anybody's guess. Maybe with the heat of summer the excitement will wear off and Cliff's worst fears (a garden growing up in weeds) will come to pass.

But for now, I'm just glad I'm able to get this much pleasure out of living, growing things.

Miracles are happening outside, every day.