Breaking Ground

"Did you ever think how a bit of land shows the character of the owner?" Laura Ingalls Wilder

I love the early spring when the waking ground is a blank canvas for the artistry of gardening. I see green leaves and vibrant flowers where there is only brown grass and earth at the moment. If you close your eyes you can almost imagine that summer is close at hand, almost.

I am kind of scared to mention how nice the weather was today for fear of being put back into place by one last snow storm. With that said though the sun was out today and warmed the soil on one side of the house long enough for the kids and I to get our shovels into the dirt and break new ground.

We have already had some set backs, for instance the eggplant seeds never really took and the cat ate the majority of the healthy broccoli sprouts but that did not deter us and we eagerly set to work in the yard preparing for what we hope is going to be a bountiful harvest in 2011.

As I was working in the backyard my neighbor, who along with her husband and a neighbor down the road had a great looking garden last year, began talking about the benefits of gardening on a larger scale to help lighten the load on the grocery bill with the price of food nowadays. The reason I bring it up is because that is really our state of mind this year. We are extending the main garden which was around 40x11 to begin with a couple of feet and we are adding substantial space to the herb garden this year as well. Actually the herb garden runs right into the base of the main veggie garden plot at this point and will help a great deal with the companion planting this year. We have two smaller veggie gardens we are going to extend, the kids started on one yesterday, and plan to add a spot specifically for our heirloom tomatoes this year. If we end up doing things properly we should have a fresh harvest for the table and enough to freeze, pickle and dry for the fall and winter, which of course is something at this point I have no interest in really thinking about quite yet, right now I am dreaming of warm spring days!