What is in your Garden? - Military Family Life Question of the Week

There is stress relief for me found in getting down and getting my hands dirty. It starts in very early-Spring and extends through the beginning of Fall. I feel capable. I feel healthy. Wielding a shovel makes me even feel *a little* stronger as I work arm and leg muscles. I swear at the weeds and talk baby-talk to the very-capable vegetable plants. (I'm quite certain that's why they 'produce' for us!)

Summer time equals a small (yet growing every year) garden for us. This year we have:

• Cucumbers in abundance


• Peas, their season has passed, but blessed us with lots of early Spring munching


• Carrots that need to be thinned


• Tomatoes which are still quite green


• Lettuce which has fed us, the neighbors plus more friends


• Radishes a plenty!


• Watermelons ... I speak nicely to them every time I go out there. They have a lot of growing to do still


• Spinach ... well we HAD spinach till the rabbits ate it all


• 2 blueberry plants (Hubs 'pride-n-joy')


• Green Peppers, at bite size morsels right now they are growing every day


• Plus a small herb garden with oregano, basil, rosemary, tarragon, cilantro, thyme & bay leaf.

My 4 year-old is not a fan of vegetables or fruit; until he was introduced to the garden cucumber and the snap-pea he could take right off of the vine. Those two things he will devour. Especially if he helps pick them! I've noticed he is venturing to liking new vegetables now that he has had a taste in his mouth that he likes. I love the joy in my boys' eyes as they tell friends about our garden or walk with me as we take inventory of what is growing. I love grabbing a cucumber mid-day chopping it up as a snack and watching the boys devour it!

Some gardening comes with much sadness. My spinach for one... darn rabbits. I've also tried corn in the past and got half of a cob all season from 8 to 10 corn-stalks. One year when we were young my mom grew watermelon along our chain-link fence on base. The only watermelon that came to fruition did as such on the OTHER SIDE of the fence. How disappointed we were when the neighbors claimed it as their own, it was in 'their yard', after all... sigh...

What is in your garden? If you don't have one what would you LIKE to grow? It is fun to dream & think about the future. It's fun to get your hands dirty and watching something grow from seed to nourishing your family. (Of course, it is not so fun when the $#*& rabbits eat all your spinach!)

- Leanne from MilitaryAvenue.com