It's Raining and I Can Almost Watch the Veggies Grow!

When it comes to rainy days I am the first person to moan and groan about it; except when it is garden time; as long as it doesn't get carried away and floods the garden.



PEAS

From my second floor window I can look down on the garden and actually get a better view of bits of green among the dark brown soil.  BEETS!!! At last I see beet sprouts nearly 2 inches tall.  It's been so long since I've tasted fresh from the soil beets.  I realize these red orbs are not the preferred veggie of most people, but then again I am not "most people".  Even as a child I was the one kid in the family who loved liver and onions, broccoli (we called them trees to distinguish it from cauliflower) and blood sausage (I have since lost the taste for this sweet meat - now that I know how its made).

Back on topic.  All my plant beds have been either planted or delegated to be planted in a week or two.  Now it's time to plan again the rotation for the second plantings.  I think I will plant some onion sets and potatoes, at least one brussels sprouts plant, and more tomatoes (we consume lots of tomatoes).



TOMATOES

When I think about my Pepere's garden I can only remember the tomatoes though I know there was much more to his garden.  My uncle Al, Pepere's son, took over the gardening when Pepere departed from us and every year his garden would expand and become more varied.   Uncle Al would spend the winter months sifting through seed catalogs and carefully selected vegetables new to our family as well as the old favorites.  And he never forgot to plant flowers for my grandmother.  Uncle Al is an amazing man.  Everything was of  interest to him, and he taught himself to do so many things.  He learned to read music and play the piano, learned how to do woodworking and built everything from a lamp-table to a boat!  When he discovered radio control "grown up toys" he built a plane, a scaled down version of the real thing, motorized it and spent Saturday morning at an open field flying.  When I say he built the plane, he didn't use a kit, he cut all the parts himself from lightweight wood.  His garden is gone now, so is the plane and the boats he built, and everything else.  But Uncle Al is still among us although now he is in his nineties and although he is beginning to slow down he still has a sharp mind and is always ready for a long visit with family and friends.

My family were like today's homesteaders, but they called it "getting by with what you had". 

I am grateful that I was able to grow up in such an atmosphere of love and creativity and appreciation for the simple life.