A Real Live Garden

It’s such a relief to me, each year around this time, to see my garden come back to life. After the disappointment of the summer, I’m always ready to give up gardening forever, but something keeps me going back to pull the weeds, till the soil, and plant the seeds each fall. Thank goodness for habit, or optimism, or whatever it is, because fall and winter are when my faith in botanical science and hard work are rewarded.

Here’s the vegetable garden, with the second seeding finally done.

The first sowing in October (the small plants on the right) was pretty straightforward as the beds were completely empty for planting. The second round of seeds (in the soil on the left), done over the last three weeks, was a bit more complicated since I had to work around the ridiculously overgrown three-year-old basil plants.

a purple basil plant that turned green

There are five basil plants of different varieties, all grown from seed. I cut them back severely every month or so, giving piles of basil to the neighbors, but they grow right back and cover almost half of the planters. We are about to turn green from the amount of pesto we eat!

 

looking forward to colorful lettuce in our salads

 

Tiny tomatoes

I know that my readers in northern climes are probably in disbelief at the luxury of a garden in the winter. Just remember that I was grieving all summer long as the sun, heat, drought, and pests slowly killed every living thing in my garden!

 

Wherever you are, I hope you are getting lots of good fruits and veggies from your garden or farmers market.

 

Katrina