Jun 15, 2012

Why I Garden

Pretty sure I mentioned that we spent Monday night planting the garden. We have been married for almost 29 years and we have tried to plant a garden pretty much every year. When we were in school it was hard! One year we signed up for a little 6 x 6-foot plot when we were in the University Village married student housing. With all of our commitments at school it was difficult to keep the weeds out.

In our second apartment we planted a pretty good-sized garden but we ended up moving before we could harvest any of it.

And so it went...

I told you last year that we had traded in our basketball court for a garden plot, but this year my sweetie vowed that would change. He dug up all the grass between the apricot tree and the small garden and now we have a new area for gardening. We even moved the tool shed! (We'll see how long it takes us to pour the concrete for a basketball court.)

The picture on top is a family tradition. These are pictures of my sweetie leveling the garden with a ladder and Curly riding on top of it.  Somewhere in our scrapbooks are other pictures, one of my awesome father-in-law pulling 3-year-old Bossy and another one when my sweetie is the 3-year-old!

Maybe Bossy can pull those pictures for us and I'll post them on the weekend.

There are lots of reasons we plant a garden. I'm pretty sure it usually saves us money (although there have been years when I wonder!). I love going to the store less and being able to pull half my meal from the backyard.

But the number one reason (at least this year) is probably this...you know how normal kids eat apples, oranges, or bananas? Well Baby Doll will pull open the fridge and instead of going for one of the "normal" fruits, she grabs a tomato! I can't wait to let her try the ones straight from the garden!



Love those tomatoes!


9 comments:

Natalie Ockey said...

That's why we love the garden, too. Our kids struggle eating meat, dairy, etc. but they will try any fruit or vegetable. Mark's favorite thing is to pick a green pepper from the garden to eat like an apple. Dax goes for the peas and carrots-- oh, and the strawberries. They both love the strawberry patch!

~R

Lisa @ Two Bears Farm said...

We love gardening. Well, except the weeds part. And the squash bugs. She's so cute w/ her tomato!

Marci said...

I think I say this all the time, but dang Baby Doll is adorable.

I wish we could grow a garden, but right now as we're renting it's pretty much pointless. Until last week we didn't know if our landlord was going to let us extend our contract another year or not, and now we know we'll at least be staying put til the end of July 2013. I should at least get big containers and do an herb garden. If I could grow basil that would be amazing, I love fresh basil but it always is so expensive and goes bad really quick. I'll have to figure out when the best time is to plant, and if it's really possible... it's been in the 90s pretty consistently since April.

Wow, that was a long comment. Sorry, sometimes it just helps me think to write it all down! Can't wait to see your garden later on!

All Because two people fell in love said...

I wont say I love gardening, but I LOVE eating the fresh food out of my garden!

Debby@Just Breathe said...

Hope your garden flourishes this year and your Baby Doll enjoys the tomatoes. Looks like a fun family effort.

Arkansas Patti said...

What a cool tradition. Loved that shot.
Enjoy your garden. Nothing tastes better than home grown veggies. Makes you realize the sell plastic veggies in stores.

mommeeof10 said...

I dug up my little garden (6ft by 15 ft) last night with the shovel. By tonight after work, or tomorrow afternoon, it will have dried out enough to rake the weeds out of it, then add compost , mix well and plant. Hubby loves fresh tomatoes. I do not care for tomatoes, unless they are cooked, but plant them just for him. :) Cucumbers, my kids love cukes. They eat them for a snack, peeling a whole one and dipping it in catalina dressing.

The Pepperrific Life said...

I want to start a garden of my own too, just so we could get fresh veggies right at home.

Emma Frances said...

I can't wait to have a yard to grow a garden in someday! :)