There's Always Something...

Earth...

One of the strangest things I know is the overwhelming love I have for the earth itself.

When, each new season, I dig my hands into the earth - stir, probe, compress - smelling that ever fresh breath that comes only from that moist darkness, I fall in love all over again.

It never changes, only seems to increase in its intensity as the years go by and my kinship with it grows.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

We're fortunate to live in the desert southwest. I can put my crops in around Thanksgiving and, with a little bit of luck, begin harvesting about now. We will be feasting on fresh vegetables until about June when the sun squelches everything.

We had our first lettuce salad yesterday and have been enjoying tomatoes now and then since before Christmas. We don't have much space and almost everything grows in self-watering pots as opposed to the traditional in the ground garden. I use organic fertilizers and compost so the flavor is every bit as good as the standard garden. Since the only transportation involved is a few feet into our kitchen, we can choose only the choice varieties.

We generally get excellent vegetables from California here at reasonable prices. Consequently what we grow in our garden is limited to what is not of the highest quality in the stores. Tomatoes are our prime crop. The commercial ones taste like cardboard - except for the tiny sweet ones that are always good. I grow nine varieties, including several heirloom types that are not supposed to be grown in our type of garden. Luckily no one has told them that. They are half way to the top of their cages already and I seeded them on New Years day.

I will bore you regularly with reports and photos from my little garden. Every morning, when I go out to check, water, admire the new life in our back yard, I feel so good - so happy - that it isn't possible not to smile.

I smile a lot.

Tomato Seedlings and Container Gardens...

In our small living area, a garden is out of the question. Having the gardening gene as part of my body and soul, I picked up copies of Edward C. Smith's Incredible Vegetables from Self-Watering Containers and the updated classic,  Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew, studied them carefully, decided what I wanted to grow, bought some seeds, some compost, some vermiculite, and some quality potting soil - and declared myself ready to rumble.

Not too long ago, I planted the tomato seeds for my spring garden in a little seeding tray. Then I seeded Blue Lake Beans and three varieties of lettuce in large containers. Tomatoes, seven varieties, are to be the stars of my show. I selected the easy to grow varieties - but more. I decided to try some heirloom varieties which aren't supposed to be growable in containers. I believe I can.

Keep in mind that there are two growing seasons in Arizona's deserts. The Spring and the Fall. Few places on the planet have that combination.

Back to my "gardens", The green beans are an inch tall. The lettuce has broken ground.

And, best of all,  I transplanted my tomato seedlings into intermediate pots today.

So, in a sense, the excitement, the joys and frustrations that go with growing and loving vegetables get more formally underway today.

Not bad. Not bad.