The simple joys of gardening ...

I've reflected on gardening around here a few times ... it is and has been one of the stress relieving hobbies I whole-heartily embrace each year, though last year was a bit of a loss with all the stresses that were too much a part of the unfolding of my life ...

This year though, I have been able to be a little more focused and A LOT more intentional in getting my gardens in and established and tended.

The picture above is the tiny veggie patch. It started last year with the inground portion that was dedicated to a few spindly tomato plants, some potatoes, and a few other assorted veggies ... I don't remember it producing much in the way of edible produce - the squash plant that self seeded itself in the compost bin out back was much more successful!!

This year as I prepared the veggie patch, I decided to use the old steps I had removed from the back porch last year, and I banged together a small raised bed to plant alongside the existing veggie patch. My ultimate goal is to keep expanding the veggie, perennial and flower patches in my front yard so that instead of boring and relatively useless grass, I will have a proper English Cottage Garden that requires minimal tending, and produces a wide array of bloom, berries, fruits, vegetables and herbs ... I've started, and I'll keep plugging away at it year by year, season by season ...

For now though, I enjoy having to go out a couple of times a day to water the various plots and patches, and to watch the growth of the new spouts pushing up through the ground past the weeds (did I mention I am terrible at weeding??), and creating a lush covering of new growth. It is simultaneously relaxing and rewarding.

This morning as I watered the veggie patch and noted the growth, even from yesterday I found myself plucking radish greens (and even a tiny plump radish root!!!) and tender chard and nibbling as the water sprinkled over the plants and soil ... I took some time and ACTUALLY weeded between the rows, taking note of the beet, carrot, and spinach that was beginning to sprout.

Then I spent a lazy and leisurely afternoon in the shade of my back deck reading the book "Trauma Farm" by Canadian writer Brian Bett, about his hobby farm on BC's Salt Spring Island. As I read Bett's words I found myself thinking about my humble little garden and how I could expand it to include some of the lovely heritage breeds of veggies and fruit that are being lost to our Industrial Monoculture ... then I thought about how lovely it was growing up in a neighbourhood with fruit trees and gardens to raid, and with access to vast farm gardens tended by my extended family ... There simply is NOTHING comparable to fresh produce picked and eaten while standing in the middle of a garden!!

I thought about our neighbour Mr Baumbach and his spindly pear tree that we used to raid while waiting for the bus ... the hard green pears were good - but the ripe yellow ones were better!!! I remember the year the last kid took a bus from the stop at the end of Mr Baumbach's drive way, he commented on how many pears that tree had produced, and he wondered what he was doing differently after so many years of getting only one or two pears ...

I laughed, and he did too, as I put the finger of blame firmly on the kids who had for the last decade or so used his driveway as our bus stop ... "We changed," I said, "and so YOU get ALL the pears this year instead of us stealing them!!"

Such are the memories of gardens and orchards and producing fruit and veggies in your own backyard ... I cherish the mental picture of Noahkila in our backyard in Bella Coola stuffing his pudgy toddler cheeks with fresh cherries from the Queen Anne Tree that stood outside the dining room window (he ONE enjoyed fruit) and I will forever smile as I picture Ms H. and Beetle stripping their Grandma Beach's raspberry bushes of the thick ripe berries.

That is WHY we garden, and enjoying the bounty of the harvest surreptitiously makes the whole process much more enjoyable ... I look forward to continuing with my seasonal nibbles, and in the coming weeks, months and years, I look forward to continuing to expand my gardens so the palate of flavours, colours, scents and experiences can continue to grow!!