Garden Update.

While I spent yesterday's beautiful weather enjoying/working on things at my rented storage locker/garage of my own (the baydoor of which opens upon a now springtime field), Mal informs me he spent the day on his knees.

Honoring Ruth?, I asked him over the phone last night.

Planting onion bulbs -- 7XX (seven hundred something, can't recall the exact figure.)

"700 bulbs you planted?" not sure I heard him right. He confirmed. A bagful, from his community garden in New Richmond, and since they finally tilled down there, and today's rain was well predicted, I think he so enjoyed gardening again, he got a bit carried away.

Of course, I'm not one to talk, as I'm currently nurturing 5 or 6 flats -- some transplanted/some still $.99 four-packs -- they're outside in the garage now, and enjoyed the sun yesterday on tables I carried out. Broccoli, Romas, cabbages, spinach and lettuce, eggplant, dill, cilantro, etc. -- I'm thinking cold weather crops, and eager to get my hands dirty myself. Sugar peapod seedings -- that's what I'll start with...

Of course, you can easily buy fresh produce up here, and it's not too expensive either as our Farmer's Markets are more about product than the see-and-be-seen social scene you might find in other locales. Not much is worth raising from seed, I've found, especially the smaller seeds that require starting in late winter, and either a tweezers or fine-motor-skills greater than I've got...

But like with the houseplants, for childless/petless people, you take your nuturing where you can get it. The better you treat your plants -- keeping them wet but not overwatering; respecting the roots and giving them greater room for growth when needed; balancing the need for sunshine yet adapting them to the colder outdoors temperatures -- the more they give you in return. And though you can buy, it's nice watching the growth and getting your time and money's worth out of a healthy pursuit.

Plus, before I started growing myself, I wasn't all that much of a vegetable eater. Did it more out of obligation than enjoyment. (Not a greens eater yourself? Start with honey as a condiment, cutting back as your tastebuds evolve... worked for me!)

The organic-soil community garden I participate in is now tilled, with our workday fencing/plotting set for Thursday evening. And the church-sponsored plots should be ready any one of these days too.

Here's to good eating, and spending a Sunday on your knees with good reason. ( "Your Health is Your Wealth" was my favorite of Ruth's sayings. )