I love to be outdoors and I love to garden. For years I grew veggies every summer. But in 2008 I had to let my little crops die in the scorching heat because I had knee surgery rightsmackdab in the middle of gardening season. In Spring 2009 I was not yet healed enough to haul bags of top soil to my garden beds. This Spring my mother-in-law died and rather than reinstall veggie beds, I spent each weekend helping hubs prepare m-i-l’s house for the market. I’ve missed gardening, but more important, I’ve missed looking at a plate of colorful food with the pride that comes from having grown it.
All that changed today. I installed a raised bed and planted my first-ever fall crop. The bed required 10 40-pound bags of soil. Hubs insisted on helping me haul the bags down our sloped back yard to the garden. Even so I carried four of the bags myself (one at a time, of course). And my knee felt fine.
I’m starting small. I used a raised bed kit hubs bought me a couple of weeks ago. I planted Romaine lettuce, round-leaf spinach and plain old spinach. I don’t know how successful I’ll be. I’m told lettuce is tricky to grow in the Fall. But I’m excited all the same. (It takes so little to make me happy.)
It felt great to have dirt under my nails again. It will feel even better to run around the office at lunch time blabbering about how I grew the greens in my salad. I work with really nice people. They’ll pretend to be interested.
Here’s a little photo of today’s work. Yes, it’s hard to decipher anything, but I’ll post updates if when things begin to sprout.
So what about you? Are you planting veggies for a Fall crop? If so, what ‘ya got growing?
482gr8 