One of my favorite times of the week is Saturday morning. After my morning yoga practice and a nice breakfast at home with my wife, I love to venture out to the garden to see what’s new. This morning the sun was shining, and the leaves were pulsating in the morning breeze. I venture out with my pruning shears and long fillet knife prepared to cut a few fresh zucchinis, some fresh kale, or do some needed trimming.
As you can see from the photos, things are coming along nicely. This time of year I’m overwhelmed by the garden’s abundance. The beds are well seasoned, and the compost along with the winter planting of nitrogen fixing plants has really made a difference.
I let some of my plants go to flower – for a good reason. The addition of flowers from the small mustard greens, arugula, radish, or cilantro add a splash of color and subtle taste to salads and the dishes I’ll concoct in the kitchen. And the bees love them! These flourishes are a bit uncommon and one of the reasons that, if you like to cook, having a garden and enjoying the bounty at various stages of growth offers a different dimension to the food one can prepare.
Everything I’m growing is organic. It hasn’t been a huge commitment, and seems more recreational than work. The garden not only feeds the body, but feeds my soul. Back when I was in college at the University of Oregon I lived near campus in a rented house with a couple of roommates. One of them wanted to start a garden so we went to the local chicken growers (this was back in the early seventies), shoveled up some chicken droppings into the back of a pickup, and drove back to start our garden. That was my first introduction to gardening. It’s hard to forget that experience, especially coming from Los Angeles. My roommate eventually moved out to the countryside, raised goats and started an even larger garden. He was the real impetus back then. I seem to have been around all things “green” ever since.
As you can see, gardening is one of my true passions. If you’d like to read more of my posts about it, click here.
Leviticus Bennett says
Your story about how you started gardening is really great; it’s nice when friends can introduce us to new hobbies. I think something great about gardening is that it is a goal-oriented activity. All the work you put in points toward the exciting time of the harvest. It’s a nice way to motivate you to work and enjoy nature.