Garden Therapy

It's the strangest thing ... gardening seems to be one of the only things in the world that can completely get my mind off of everything else. It doesn't make much sense. It would seem that since only my hands are occupied that my mind would wander. But it just doesn't. It's a wonderful thing ... something I'm just going to accept as a blessing.

I've been indulging in plenty of "garden therapy" lately - recently rotatilling the garden and planting zucchini, yellow squash, green beans (two kinds), lima beans (Emily's favorite!), cucumbers (four kinds!), sunflowers and zinnias (not to eat, but because they make me smile), and tomatoes. You can see here that my potatoes, onions, lettuce, spinich, carrots and peas (regular, sugar snap and snow) are all coming along nicely.

I still have about 50 pepper plants that will go in the ground in a few weeks along with the okra. Andy asked me awhile back if I was planning to feed the entire town of Winfield with the produce from my gardens. :) In fact, I am hoping to participate in our local farmers market this summer ... certainly not every Saturday, but a least a few time. I also have a new raised bed that Gage and I finished last weekend (yep, that makes THREE gardens!) where I plan to plant herbs and more cutting flowers.

The fruits and berries we have planted this year are coming along just swimmingly. Roger recently planted for us four peach trees, four apricot and four cherry. It has become a tradition for Gage and me to plant trees for our anniversary. This year we have a handful of pear trees and apple trees on their way! The six blueberry bushes and six raspberry bushes we planted are also sprouting right up! Last summer I planted strawberries, which are thriving! One thing about planting soooo many different varieties of plants I am not familiar with is that I have LOTS to learn. I'm devouring anything I can get my hands on that tells me more about fruits and berries. For instance, I was recently reading about the care of strawberries and discovered that it is recommended that one pinch off the blossoms until July 1. When we went out to pinch blossoms, Gage and I discovered that the plants were already LOADED with berries! Here is just a tiny little bit that we picked off. Now, the book that I read didn't say anything about pinching off the berries, but we decided to try it and see what happens. Hopefully if won't decrease the yield later in the summer. In any case, we are looking forward to plenty of yummy fruits and veggies this summer and in years to come!