Farmer Wanna-Be

I love spring; I love gardening; and I love eating the food we nurture from seed to table. For me, the “work” is fulfilling, relaxing, and rewarding! I’m a farmer “wanna-be.”

Dennis and I live on a lovely piece of land on Trammel Mountain and have had a small garden just about every year since we’ve been here—even though a few years were little more than a few cherry tomato plants out on the deck. There’s nothing like fresh veggies from the plant to the plate!

This view is from the top of my hill in the back yard...

A cherry tomato still warm from the sun is dessert on a vine! Like a kid at Christmas, I’m thrilled when the plants start to emerge from the earth or the first flowers decorate the stalks, assuring us that our labor was not in vain. I’m rewarded when excess food fills my freezer full of fresh veggies, but I also enjoy giving it away to others who won’t let it go to waste.

I’ve had some pretty good veggie gardens through the years; some years the garden was amazing, one I killed though ignorance (that's a blog spot all its own), and one or two failed due to drought or blight; but all in all, gardening has proven to be extremely cost effective and absolutely therapeutic!

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• This year, we’ll have our largest garden yet. Dennis built three 24'L x 4'W x 12"H raised beds out of landscaping timber that was on sale last year at Lowes. We ordered a ton of topsoil delivered, and my sweet hubby has already filled and prepped the beds--all I have to do is plant the seeds!

Here are my 3 raised garden beds

I tend to be over-zealous with just about everything I do, so I reminded myself not to overdo it and am just planting a little of few dozen different plants that I enjoy most such as

strawberries (the nice thing about strawberries is that, once planted and if cultivated correctly, they come up again year after year.)
yellow & green beans (did you know these shouldn’t be planted side by side with potato plants?)
peas (yeah, it’s time consuming to shell them, but the flavor is out of this world; they freeze nicely, too.)
russet & Yukon gold potatoes (you need to read my “barrel potato” plan below)
white, red & Texas yellow onions (fresh onion is so delectable, you’ll consider making perfume out of it!)
several varieties of tomatoes (they ripen at different times)
jalapeño, green, red and organge peppers (gotta try my fresh, homemade salsa!)
zucchini and yellow squash (You should taste my sister Angie’s “mock apple pie” zucchini recipe)
lettuce, radishes, carrots (YUM!)
beets (we like it in our fresh carrot juice, but this year I’m going to learn to pickle them, too.)
cantaloupe & honeydew melons (still warm from the sun—it’s like CANDY!)

This is my 3rd year with an herb bed, and let me tell you, if I can help it, I will NEVER buy prepared herbs again. Food made with fresh herbs is unbelievably tasty! Herbs are about the easiest plant to nurture on God's good earth. The herbs I plant are perennials meaning you only have to plant them once, and they'll come back to bless you year after wonderful scented year as they send their tantalizing aroma of sage, thyme, basil, rosemary, cilantro and oregano, parsley and dill to your favorite sunny spot. Go ahead--invest a few dollars in a few herb plants. All they need is decent soil and water; they do well in pots, too.

Oh, and if you've never smelled a lavender plant, you're missing out big time! It's not only a wonderful bug repellent, but this beautiful flowering herb makes perfect cuttings for your bedroom.

Just thinking about this makes me want to dig my hands in the dirt right now!