Growth

If you plant at the end of May.......



Add some sun and rain over the next few months...



You just might end up with a bountiful harvest!


Yummy!


I have to share....My Pop Pop was an amazing gardener. So much so, that when I am in the garden and I smell the basil and tomatoes, I smell him. The smell is just one in the same. Pop Pop = garden. I however, have always had a black thumb.

In his honor, however, I decided to give it a try this summer and see what we could do together. My hubby and I cleared some land, and my mom and I did the planting. I earnestly prayed to Pop Pop. His faith was always an inspiration and I figured if he would be a patron saint of anything it would be the backyard garden. So I asked him to bless our garden and to keep watch over it.

Needless to say, my faith and my garden continue to grow. Some may say it has just been a good year for crops, I know better.

Watch her garden grow

The garden is coming along nicely. I don't think my tomato plants are getting enough sun, because they are getting taller rather than filling out, but all the plants have flowers on them and I think soon enough we will be able to see some tiny tomatoes. Same with the zucchinni and yellow squash. Even my pumpkins are still looking good. By far, however, my best crop so far has been the lettuce. We've had a few salads by now and I still have loads of romaine. It didn't really occur to me when I planted the lettuce that it would all be ready at the same time, so I'm trying to get creative with my abundance. I'll have to bring some over to a friend's house, because as much as I like a good salad, I'm not a rabbit.




In other related but unintended gardening news, I found out we have peonies growing in the backyard. I must be getting old, because a few years ago I would have never cared to know the names of flowering plants let alone wanted to learn more about them. Nonetheless, I am now familiar with the peonies in my yard and they are gorgeous. Sweet smelling, big and poufy. Definitely a girly-girl flower. Here's a pic of some that I brought inside to keep my basil company.

I think somewhere deep in the recesses of my heart, there just might be a gardener waiting to escape. I've always thought I had a brown thumb, but maybe with some divine intervention (and rich Maine soil) I'll actually see a real garden emerge from our backyard.

The garden

The garden is in and looking good thus far. We've planted tomatoes, two types of lettuce, peppers, pumpkins, yellow squash, zucchini,basil, oregano, dill and italian parsley. Y'all should know, I've NEVER had a garden before, so we'll see if anything but the basil grows. That I know I can grow, but the rest is pure experimentation. My garden doesn't get a whole lot of sun, so I know we're already starting out with one strike against us, but I'm hopeful anyway. My Pop Pop was a world class gardener and so I'm hoping he'll be my garden-guardian angel to help us out this year. Thankfully my Mom was here to help us plant--she showed us the tricks of a seasoned pro. I'll keep you posted on our progress!