"For the Love of Gardening".....

I have always loved having my hands in the dirt.
I love the idea of taking a seed & watching it grow. I love waking up,.... & wanting to check the garden, even before making the coffee.
I'm not sure why it is that some of us are drawn to the idea of gardening? I know for myself, that watching my mother plants "petunias & marigolds" off our brick patio, was something I took to heart.
I noticed at a very early age how a few, very ordinary annuals would transform our modest backyard into an area of beauty. And I was very proud of it. My mother worked tirelessly in our yard, ....weeding & trimming & raking....& even though at the time I didn't always want to participate in the heavy work, I do remember appreciating the compliments that came from the neighbors & friends.

Then as a young wife, both my husband & I spent hours in the yard of our first home. We removed rocks that were crowding out our shrubs, & we re-purposed them into a rock wall. I planted pots of red geraniums & trailing blue lobelia,.... & placed them all over our deck,...again lots of work, but the reward was so very satisfying.

Over the years we have lived in many homes,.... tiny suburban homes with tiny suburban yards......a large colonial with a very large yard & even a rural New York farmhouse & 31 acres, not to mention 2 huge gardens & a greenhouse!......& through it all I have happily grown flowers & vegetables & herbs.
And now in my early 50's I am more interested than ever in being a gardener, or dare I say an "urban farmer". I am interested in growing a full kitchen garden, with all the herbs I cook with.

I also want to grow not only my dear little "sun-gold & cherry" tomatoes, but a few heirloom ones as well, .....& of course a variety of lettuces, & french radishes & shallots & zucchini & pumpkins....And "flowers"!....old-fashioned hollyhocks, nasturtiums, zinnias & sunflowers!.....

I not only want to grow all these edible darlings, I also am trying my hand at composting, which I have not done in years, but do remember doing with very favorable results!

I have to say that when I imagine myself as an old woman, I picture myself dressed in faded, denim overalls ( of course with a gaudy rhinestone brooch pinned on!),... a huge straw hat & lots of grandchildren helping & having as much fun as I am in our family garden!....

I'm off to a good start since my almost 7 year old grandson Andrew, has spent many summer afternoons picking & nibbling tiny tomatoes while I weed..... He loves it like I do, like a true gardener. It is in his blood, just like it has been in mine, my mother's & her dairy farmer father before her.
I guess then, that I have answered my own question,...whether we are born with the "desire to plant" or not..it is possibly more in the "cultivation". So I will go on from here, spending as much time as I can in the dirt & hoping to instill my love of it to all my future seedlings.

Off to the garden....

heidi
xo