The Three Gardens of Summer

Every year since moving to Bradley, my family plants a small vegetable garden in the late spring, and so for nearly five years, it has come a bit of a tradition. What started as a small, backyard experiment has morphed into a near obsession between my husband and myself. In the winter, we dream about the warmer weather and what we will plant in the gardens. In the late summer, after the harvest, we discuss what we have learned, place it carefully in a memory file for future gardens, and wait for new gardens. In the spring we till and turn the soil making sure that it has enough nutrients and love to sustain the growth. It is possible that our litle garden experiment has turned a bit, well, obsessive.

My husband, with three year old Lili in tow, walked up and down the isles of Lowe's picking things that would work best in the plots of land that we had meticulously groomed into fertile growing space. We decided on our usual pepper assortment; sweet bell, spicy jalapeno for fresh pico. Then it was on to the tomatoes which is always somewhat of a challenge because we like all varieties. We decided on beefsteak, grape romas, and a mystery variety that Lili had planted from seed earlier in the spring. Herbs are fairly easy to grow and we added a few new ones to our growing collection this year which now include cilantro, sweet basil, chives, German and lemon thyme, lavender and mint. Our new choices this year are russet potatoes, strawberries, yellow onions, garlic, broccoli and sweet peas added to our old favorites of beans, zucchini and sunflowers. In all that makes twenty two varieties of plants that are growing in our three gardens this year, more than we have ever done!

In addition to the gardens, this year we have decided to make our own compost. After nearly half a year of research, we decided that an outdoor compost, as opposed to an indoor worm compost, would work best for our family and we have placed it next to the biggest garden in the back so that the compost "tea" can flow directly into the garden, keeping the soil nutrient rich all season long. I get the job of turning the compost every few days because I am the smoker, making frequent trips outside. My husband even bought me a nice pitchfork for the job. How very kind of him. Somehow, though, I think I am getting the raw end of the deal.

After an entire day of plotting, shopping, tilling and planting, my hands were still covered in dirt after repeated washes and my body ached in places that I didn't know possible. It was a beautiful feeling. There is something so calming and simple about being attached so intimately to the land; working it with your hands, the promise of new life sustaining old life. I can see the lure that farmers must have, keeping them going for generations and I am inspired to keep it going in my small little area, allowing the feeling to seep into the hearts of my own children. They are always involved in our home in some way or another. I try to teach them the value of preservation, to not use chemicals, to not laugh at their dad as he uses the old fashioned push mower instead of the gas powered ones. To walk and ride their bikes rather than drive, to always bring in the shopping bags into the grocery store. It is the simple things that will make them aware of the changing world around them and hopefully, allow them to be the cause for change as they grow older by making responsible choices.